Cornwall

 St Michael's Mount.

 The village on the island at the base of the castle.

 The town of St Aubyn.

 The fishing village of Newlyn.

 The Minack Theatre.

 Penberth Cove.

 John at Land's End.

The St Ives harbour at low tide.

 St Ives.

The tide coming in.

Tuesday, August 29^th.

John and I got an early start for our Cornwall excursion. We drove straight to St. Michael's Mount. This is a castle/church/house built on a rocky hilltop island just of the south Cornwall coast. We arrived there about 9:00 and caught a small ferry to the island. We walked through the old village and then up the cobblestone path to the castle on the rock. It is co-owned by the National Trust and the Aubyn family. We walked though admiring the drawing rooms, the library, the map room and the like before entering the church which was built during the 12 century. Really a beautiful place in a location that has been utilized by people for 3000 years.

When we left there we drove to Newlyn, a small fishing village, on the south coast. We wandered around the port there for a bit before heading off to see the Minack Theatre. This is an outdoor theatre carved from rock right on the coast that John had been to before. There was a sold out play about to begin and we were only allowed to walk through the gardens and admire the view from above the theatre. It looked amazing, but I couldn't help asking the attendant what happens if it rains, and she said everyone gets wet.

From there we drove to Penberth Cove, a beautiful tiny fishing village that she recommended. It was very scenic and had been used as a location for a very popular TV program called Poldark. There were a couple of really old cottages here and a number of small fishing boats. We hiked up a hill to get a better view of the area.

Then we drove off again to Land's End. This the most westerly part of England. There is a very commercial area here for families and kids, but we wandered around admiring the rugged coastline and enjoying a Cornish pasty and the colourful heather on the heath.

Finally we drove to St Ives, which is a very picturesque village on the north coast of Cornwall. We checked into our AirBnB accommodation and met Jill our hostess. She took us out on her terrace overlooking Carbis Bay and served us a coffee. She is a rather eccentric lonely woman. We moved into our room and then went for a 20 minute walk to the village of St Ives. The tide was out and we walked along the beautiful fine sand beach to the harbour. All the boats were beached and awaiting the return of the water. We made a reservation at a restaurant that John had been to before and then wandered around the harbour and the town. We went to an old pub and had a couple of pints before finally going for dinner. I had a monkfish curry and John had a steak. Then we walked back to the accommodation, luckily I had brought my head torch as the wooded path is unlit. We had a very full and enjoyable day.