Matt of The Thirsty Scholar sent us down to “Pips” café for the included breakfast as he’d just bought “The Scholar” and the kitchen’s not yet up and running.
A couple of full English Breakfasts and we were off, walking to Falmouth Quay. Cornwall ‘drizzle’ the barman called it, and it’s a great description. Blue sky, then clouds rush in, it sprinkles and blows for five minutes, then it’s sunny again. After two packs and unpacks of our ponchos, we just held them in our hands ready to throw them on at the next drizzle squall.
The little ferry bounced and bobbed on the wind waves in the middle of the inlet across to St Mawes. A party up on top was trying to take group photos, but instead, we think, got some spectacular action shots as the waves threw them around.
After a coffee at St Mawes we got the punt across to Place Quay at Saint Anthony and started our circular walk out to the lighthouse and Saint Anthony’s head. The wind had dropped, the clouds thinned into puffy white wool balls and the sun was warm on our backs as we headed into the woods.
A lovely small church, St Anthony-in-Roseland, hidden in the trees, had graves dating back to 1665 and, within the church building, memorials to the Spry family for 400 years. George Spry bought the Augustinian priory of St Anthony in 1547, and converted it into their ancestral home, “Place House”. They looked after the church, on adjoining land, for over three hundred years.
The trail passed Place House, then opened up out of the woods into green fields rolling down to rocky coastlines and beaches. The lighthouse is operating, so not accessible; however, up above it are old World War II gun battlements looking out to sea and a bird-watching hide. Here there was a separate track out to the guns, signposted “Wheelchair Access” that was about six inches wide and walled with stinging nettle. We dared not go down there lest we came across entombed ambulants in rusty old wheelchairs.
The track rose up to high grassy cliff tops with thick bramble hedge barriers and stunning views out to sea and down to the rocks and beaches far below. Turning back atop the hill there was a village of picturesque thatched stone cottages with windows overlooking the rolling green fields sloping down to the cliff tops and the sea. The walk took us about three hours.
We found the punt, which, rather than a timetable, has a sign, ‘we go to and fro throughout the day’, at the little jetty at Place Quay and jumped aboard with others to head back to St Mawes where we enjoyed a glass of wine up on the balcony of St Mawes Hotel and Restaurant, before catching the ferry boat back to Falmouth.
Long in need of a beard trim, I ducked into the Turkish Barbers at the Quay and got ‘trimmed’ before we headed up to a lovely Indian restaurant Di had smelt wandering about as I lost hair. We jagged a booking (it’s very popular) and had a drink at a pop-up bar down the alley from the restaurant, until the restaurant opened (15 minutes). Daisy, the barmaid, attended Falmouth University doing illustration, but wants to get into set design, particularly for horror films which she loves. She was a friendly and enthusiastic ‘English Rose’ who recommended we come back again when the “Sea Shanty” festival is on (Early June) as the whole town fills with “pirates” and sea shanties are played in every pub, alleyway and street corner in the old town. It sounded like fun.
The Indian was excellent and fuelled us nicely for the 45-minute walk back to Penryn, thence to Heston by car in twenty minutes.
Tomorrow we’re… actually, we haven’t decided what we’re doing tomorrow yet, but we’re down towards the pointy end of the peninsula now, and nothing’s very far away. We’ll see.