Tintagel - 29th June

29th June – Tintagel


We were off to the caravan club site at Tintagel today, we were not taking our bikes as we were hoping to do some walking. Billy was home by 2:45 and we are on our way by 3:30, just an hour away and when we arrived it felt like we were in a different world.

We found a lovely pitch overlooking the cliffs and the sea

The cliffs and sea soon disappeared out of view when the rain arrived. We knew it wasn’t going to be a good weekend and were expecting rain overnight and the next day but Sunday was supposed to be better.

We closed the blinds and settled down for the evening with our magazines and kindles, listening to the rain on the roof. We did put the TV on and retired to bed to watch Graham Norton. I went to sleep wondering what we would do Saturday if it was raining.

Saturday 30th June

When we woke the rain had stopped and I was surprised when we pulled back the blinds that the sun was showing itself. We decided to get up, have breakfast and take the advantage whilst the sun was shining. By the time we left though the wind had got up and clouds were covering the sun but moving quickly.

On the way out of the site we got talking to a couple from Hampshire. They had done the Tintagel walk the day before and said that they had caught the bus back. The coastal path was just out of the site, we turned left and they turned right as they were heading to Boscastle today. As soon as we were on the coastal path we realised that it was not just going to be a walk in the park, we had to walk down to the bottom of a ravine and cross a bridge to walk back up again.

The scenery was  breathtaking.

 

and back down, but this time there were rickety stone steps. It was blowing a hooley and fine going up but going down I had to hang onto Billy.



We passed ponies on the cliffs





The walk was very exhilarating, although it was only 3 miles to Tintagel, it seemed a lot longer because of the climbing.

We eventually arrived at Camelot hotel where we stopped for a coffee and a rest before continuing on to the Village centre.

 

From the Camelot Hotel you can see the ruins of Tintagel Castle

We were going to walk down to the Castle but felt that we had done enough walking and we still had to walk back. We were conscious that although it had not rained yet it was still forecast for the day.

Instead of walking to the castle, we walked around the village, wandering in and out of the tourist shops. We stopped for lunch at King Arthurs Arms. We were going to have a snack but decided to go for a meal (I had forgotten to get the evening meal out of the freezer before we left).
A very good decision, I had gammon and jacket potato and Billy had American chicken with chips, but there was plenty of trimmings, we both had mushrooms, onion rings and tomato and I had peas but Billy had salad. It was a substantial meal and kept us going for the rest of the day.


We thought about catching the bus back, but as the rain was still holding off we opted to walk back.  This this time we took the road which cut off a bit of time and was an easier route, although there were still the hills to deal with but this time on tarmac.



The sun shone all the way back, but it was still very windy. We arrived back at the van, put the chairs out to rela,x but the sun decided to go in.  On top of the cliff it was quite chilly with the wind, so ended up inside. Ten minutes later the rain started, we were so lucky because if we had walked back via the coastal path we would have still been on the cliffs.

We spent the night in the van with our kindles again, watching it rain on and off.

Eventually we retired to bed but tonight we did not bother with the TV, we were dogtired after the walk and fresh air.

Sunday 1st July

We left Trewethett today and headed back home but stopped off in Boscastle, we had  been through many times but never stopped.

We walked around the shops and along the river, before heading off home we stopped for a coffee - it was Levazza, my favourite coffee.