Tuesday 20th January
Yesterday we arrived at our little lodge near Liskeard, provided by Forest Holidays on their Deerpark site. We have stayed with Forest holidays before but not on this site. It is a nice quaint 2 bedroom lodge with a balcony with hot tub over a lake. We were pleasantly surprised when we checked in to find that we had a log fire, something that we have never had before.
Once we were unpacked and settled in it was dark so we decide to leave the exploring for the next few days. With the fire roaring (after a few attempts) we left the fire to warm up the lodge and headed to the Hot Tub, our own personal Hot Tub……always bliss.
Today we headed out to Looe because Tom had managed to forget to pack any tops and didn’t want to wear what he travelled in all week, much to amusement of Kerry. After finally settling on a few tops and being served by a very stereotypical Cornish shop assistant we began our adventure and drove along the coast until we hit a dead end, then we got on foot and continued to follow the coast and as usual Kerry was wearing her heeled boots so we soon had to change back and change them.
The rough path that we followed turned into a mud track but lead us to a small waterfall which ran into the sea, Tom wanted to stand underneath but couldn’t get close enough. Further down the path we found a precarious path leading to an unoccupied cove. We didn’t have long in the cove as the tide was coming in quickly and soon began to catch up with us.
Wednesday 21st January
Today we went to the historic fishing village of Polperro where even the pay and display machine gave a warm friendly greeting in a strong Cornish accent. We were soon reminded of how unfit we are when we decided to see how high we could walk to get some pictures but all the views were ruined by trees and we lost our envy of the local residents. For Kerry it was like stepping back 10 years as she used to holiday in Cornwall as a kid. After strolling around the very quiet and deserted village we decided to head off towards the next village along the country lanes.
The next village that we landed upon was Bodinnick, there didn’t seem much going on here and could be missed in a blink. However, to leave the village we had the catch the car ferry. The ferry went across the river and dropped us in the next village called Fowey (pronounced Foy). We went for a stroll around the village but most places were shut until peak season. We were intrigued enough to follow signposts directing us to Catherine’s castle which neither of us have heard of before, we never did find the castle but we stumbled across the beach called Readymoney. Readymoney soon began to seem familiar to Kerry, the small beach was empty but a lovely spot to stop and take a few more pictures. As the sun began to drop from the sky we decided to head back to the lodge for some well-earned food and a soak in the hot tub.
Thursday 22nd January
Finally, Kerry’s birthday was here! Kerry had decided earlier in the week that we would use the complimentary Eden Project tickets that we got with our lodge on her birthday. It was beginning to dawn on us that our trip was coming to an end even though it felt like it had only just begun. We headed out to the Eden project to get there just after opening time. First of all we went around the Mediterranean Biome which Tom didn’t feel lived up to the reputation of the Eden project. After a fairly quick packed lunch in the freezing cold with a begging robin we headed into the main attraction called the Rainforest Biome which soon impressed us both. The sheer size of the new climate doesn’t really sink in until you at the vertical peaks of the paths. We were lucky enough to catch a chance at the top of the viewing platform which is a slightly precarious looking platform that takes you much higher than all the trees in the dome, from here you really appreciate the entire space. In the rainforest there are a wide array from plants, some you have seen before but most certainly some that you have not. We took many pictures but unfortunately because of the damp air many of them very ruined by moisture on the lens.