week 8 3rd to 9th Dec

Monday 3rd December – day 51

A bright clear day today, just the thing for a planned tour round the last of the coastline before Plymouth. We started well(?), as we struggled to find the turning into Charlestown. But we were glad that we had persevered as it was a delightful little place with a small dock, which housed two impressive three masted, square riggers, which were being refurbished. The village was all rows of pretty houses and a charming harbour, which we pottered round. From there we went on to Fowey, a steeply laid out village that looks across the river Foy to Polruan. We spent some time wandering round this rather chic little place, whose tiny streets were so filled with expensive galleries and gifty shops, that it felt like a weekend retreat for the wealthy from W1. Then realising that the day was getting away from us, and the hours of daylight diminishing, we took the Polruan car ferry and drove down to Polperro. Unfortunately the drive was slower than we had hoped and we reached the village in the dark, so we drove through (with a promise to return,) and on to Looe which looked very cheery, bedecked in its colourful Christmas finery. We strolled around the narrow streets and back along the water front, and left with a desire to return to see more of there too.

Tuesday 4th December - day 52

We are off to the Eden Project, a must see before leaving Cornwall we are told. A good day for it, as the weather was dull but calm. We had the place almost to ourselves which was joyous, so had no trouble getting around, and the tropical dome was cool and dry enough to be able to walk around without wanting to rush to get out!
Eden was looking very festive with a two rows of Christmas trees in the foyer, decorated by local primary schools to depict Christmases past inspired by conversations with their grandparents. There was also a rather splendid looking ice rink, but the real winners for us, were the vegetable gardens and walkways outside. In particular, an absolutely superb stepped walkway, flanked with the most spectacular tree lined archway, and blue pots of flowers, truly beautiful.
Whilst there, it is easy absorb the evangelistic zeal of Eden, the message - live more simply and in greater harmony with the earths natural resources – makes such profound sense, that it stimulated much discussion about what more we could be doing in our own small way.
We are seriously impressed by both Devon and Cornwall’s efforts at recycling. They are well ahead of the game with clearly marked recycling bins, for different materials, in all the larger towns, and even our camp site had separate recycling facilities.

Wednesday 5th December – day 53

Sad day today as we re packing up to leave Cornwall tomorrow, so lots of gathering and sorting to do. Our reward is to go and see Show of Hands tonight in Truro in the Hall of Cornwall. We have been really looking forward to seeing them perform in front of what we understand is a home crowd, as we bought the tickets some time ago. However, we were very sad to hear that Steve Knightley’s son had been taken to a Bristol hospital seriously ill with a diagnosis of leukaemia, and so had to cancel his appearance. Phil Beer and Miranda Sykes did a wonderful job at entertaining us, but it was not the same without Steve. The highlight of the show though was an acapela male choir called Fishermans Friends who raised the roof, singing sea shanties and rousing fisher folk songs, in true Cornish style. Truro was again heaving on our arrival, there is such a great atmosphere here tonight, there was a livestock sale here today and the streets were again filled with stalls selling all sorts of colourful goods – so a little more Christmas shopping was achieved.

Thursday 6th December – day 54

Woke to foul wind and rain this morning (in fact didn’t have to wake up as the weather was so loud sleep was denied). Managed a long enough dry spell to blow the porch dry, but otherwise very difficult conditions to load the car and caravan ready for the long haul back to Ilfracombe for it’s over Christmas stay. Road conditions were poor making everyone drive slowly which suited us as we were spared the feeing of guilt for holding the traffic up. On leaving the caravan we departed like a huge snail – with all our belongings on our back for Exeter, to Carol and Gary’s where we enjoyed a warm, dry and still welcome.

Friday 7th December – day 55

Onwards and upward, first to see Andy and caught up with him over lunch in IKEA, then on to Swindon for a rummage through our lock up. Oh the joy of being reunited with all our detritus ha ha ha! From Swindon we went to Guildford to have supper with Will, we ate in Wagamama’s - fab, we were all well fed. Leaving Will we made the final leg of the journey to Bracknell to stay with James, by this time Chris is just a warm hazy glow of contentment having spent time with three of his four boys.

Saturday 8th December – day 56

Having been fed a magnificent breakfast by James we left to catch a train to London where we had booked to stay overnight in a Premier Inn at Euston which cost us £84, as opposed to a Premier Inn at Waterloo for £126 - not a little confused by that price difference but grateful for the saving none the less.
Bags dropped, the rest of the afternoon was given over to Christmas shopping, so Camden Lock first – and it was a riot of colour/noise/stalls/people and smells. We managed just an hour of mooching about before fear of overload drove us out onto the next destination - Oxford Street.- Good choice – for here there was even more colour/noise/stalls/people and smells, and definitely more people.
We achieved the shopping needed and made a hasty escape to view the Christmas lights down Regent Street – can only say they were chic, but lacking in festive inspiration. With stomachs growling we went in search of supper and found a lovely little Moroccan restaurant which served up a very tasty mezze, followed by some baklava cakes and Turkish coffee, which meant that we walked slowly on to our next destination. We had planned to Beuwolf in 3D at the IMAX cinema in Waterloo as recommended, so leaving Leicester Square we headed Waterloo, but found on arrival that all the tickets were sold out. A little disappointed, we returned to Leicester Square to see what else there may be that would take our fancy – and watched Beuwolf in 3D at the Vue. After the film we moved into the square to a fun fair we had not explored earlier, so back into a cacophony of sound, lights, wails and screams as a ride called Sky Twister hurled a carload of dangling legs high into the night. The young men made us smile as they wobbled off the ride platform trying so hard to look unfazed.
We were not impressed by the 3D, or the film to be honest, but were glad to have had the experience of it, and we had much time to discuss the films flaws as we walked all the way back to our hotel room.

Sunday 9th December – day 57

Woke late, and went for breakfast in Costa’s, then off for a tramp round the Capital. First stop Covent Garden, too busy to stay long but saw enough to get the buzz. On to Trafalgar Square, down Whitehall to Horse Guards then on the Parliament Square, up through St James’s where it was a quiet haven to be able to take in all the lovely autumn golds that remained on the trees and shrubs that were glowing against the cold grey sky. We passed on through Wellesley Arch and as light was fading, into Hyde Park for a wonderful and unexpected finale to our day. There before us was a splendidly colourful Christmas Fayre our initial greeting was with a dry ice skating rink where many hopeful Torvil and Dean’s skated or fell. Just beyond was a huge Ferris wheel lit up like a bright icicle in white and ultra violet light, giving its occupants a clear view over all of the West End. Surrounding these attractions were rows of little wooden booths selling all manner of Christmas fare, and the warm spicy smell of gluwein filled the air. It would have been lovely to linger here longer but we had a train to catch and pheasant to eat followed by some Wii games to play and win!!! Back at James house (check out those slippers!)