15 September

LONDON

Going home today... 

Michael set the alarm early at 0600 for us to watch his horse (he has a small share in) run a race in Newcastle. Primivira had a good run and came 3rd, missing 2nd on a photo finish!

Our last big brekky then a walk along the Buccleuch Gardens and into Richmond. Met Steph for a coffee at Carluccio's. She came on the district line just after the bomb scare at Parsons Green! She hasn't changed one bit. A lovely catch up. 

Richmond has so many beautiful homes and terraces. Wondered back to the hotel watching many planes flying over as Richmond is in their flight path. Collected our luggage and went to see Margy's house she has been renovating for the past 18 months. Will be great when it's finished!

Off to lunch at Maids of Honour near Kew Gardens on our way to the airport. Farewell Margy and many thanks for everything. A 3 hour wait with wine and beers before boarding the plane at 1820 for home via Hong Kong. We are ready now for home. Whilst waiting we bumped into Ang and Dave going to Luxembourg to see Digby so it was fun having one last farewell drink with them. 

Such a great time together in Portugal then time with friends walking and seeing beautiful parts of England. 

Another blog completed. 

14 September

BROCKENHURST - LONDON

Count down now. 

After brekky, of which we have had masses of choices with cereals, fruit, croissants, cooked breakfast with eggs any way with all sorts of delicious foods for the last 5 weeks, it's about to come to an end!

Into the hire car for our last leg to Southampton where we dropped off our car without any hastle, and caught a train to Richmond via Clapham Junction. Margy met us at 1315 and took us around beautiful Richmond. She has been a dear friend since we were in year 8 together boarding at St Hilda's. A lovely afternoon having a light lunch at Ole & Steen, a danish bakery where we had a delicious open sandwich each not far from the Richmond Green and river. 

As Margy is having extensive renovations, which she thought would be in a different stage by our visit, she put us up at Richmond Hill Hotel which is opposite Hayley Mills old home. Tried ringing Meggie, Andy & Helen's daughter, but got my neighbour at home by mistake at 0100! Left Elle, Pen & Grant's daughter a message and got onto Steph, another old friend to meet for coffee tomorrow. 

We dined at The Ivy, in the heart of Richmond, Michael having the shepherd's pie (their signature dish) and Margy and I fish. It was all delicious with fabulous staff and surroundings. Very hard to get in but Margy managed a table at 1800 otherwise 2200! Walked along the river to Bingham Hotel for an after dinner treat. 

Very comfy bed - the next will be on the plane! 

13 September

BATH - BROCKENHURST and The New Forest

Drizzle with some sunshine today. Brekky with Bon, Ang, Dave, Michael and I before a morning exploring Bath. Found an Apple Store who thought he had sorted my problems with my email but later found no difference?!

What a beautiful city Bath is with amazing Georgian architecture in the valley of the Avon River 156kms west of London. In the Roman times Bath was known as Aquae Sulis and it was the Roman soldiers who built the Baths and Temple in the 14th century. The city became a World Heritage Site in 1987 and is the largest city in the county of Somerset. It sits on top of natural hot springs and is known for its Roman-built baths with a population of 89,000 people. We visited these baths which were fantastically displayed. Also saw The Royal Crescent, a row of 30 terraced houses laid out in a sweeping crescent, 150 metres long, designed by John Wood junior and built between 1767 and 1774 overlooking lovely parkland. 

Bath has many great shops and coffee places and restaurants. We had a great time and would have loved an extra night there. 

We farewelled Bon, who took a train to London for 4 nights and Ang & Dave meeting Cherry & Crow for lunch at the Fox and Badger at Wellow south of Bath, while we headed for the New Forest. 

Drove into Brockenhurst which alternated with the moors with grazing cattle and horses, even on the road, in no hurry to move! and the New Forest. The town itself was small with a few shops lining one street and not very interesting. The highlight was lunch at The Pig, a beautiful old house converted into accomodation and restaurants with old world furnishings and vast lawn areas. Thanks Bon for that tip. 

We settled into our accomodation, The Huntsman Hotel, our comfy room called the Wild Pigeon room, then had a lovely dinner here. Met Julia and Rob, buyers for St James fashion, which is known world wide?! Never heard of it!

A much needed early night. 

12 September

MEVAGISSEY - BATH

No more walking along the Coastal Path. 

We have all had a marvellous time together with a few blisters shared around and a couple of sore knees which isn't surprising after the rugged terrain and coast we have followed over 11 days and 200kms.  All feel very chuffed with ourselves on our achievement. 

Farewelled the Benbow's and Zimmerman's who left at 0800 for the airport to Belfast. They are having a week driving around in Ireland with the view of a game of golf or two as well. 

The Young's were having another night in Mevagissey but had to go back to St Ives to collect luggage they deliberately left there on the start of our walk, then onto Truro to collect their hire car. Burges's left with Crow and Cherry to catch the train at St Austell's and Bon and us followed in the next taxi which resulted in us missing the train and having to wait another hour! So we thought we'd take the bus... Loaded onto the bus but had to get off after 15 minutes as it didn't pass the inspection and the next bus was delayed. After paying fares for both transports (too difficult for refunds), we had a comfy half an hour trip to Truro to collect our hire car. 

We drove to the City of Wells, a beautiful place beneath the Mendip Hills. An ancient cathedral city set in the heart of rural Somerset, and is the smallest city in England. There are many historic buildings, water features, gardens and open spaces. Wells takes its name from the springs (or wells) which rise in the Bishop's Palace and Gardens which is the 800 year old home and office of the Bishop of Bath and Wells. We saw a game of croquet on the vast lawns. Lunch of soup and sandwiches at The Crown at Wells and walked around an eclectic mix of buildings. 

The 5 of us continued onto Bath, Bon with us, to our accomodation The Royal Hotel near the train station. The rain started but it didn't deter us from exploring Bath and having a pub crawl starting at The Star Inn, onto The Chequers and finishing at Maritini Restaurant for a delicious Italian meal. What a beautiful city Bath is. We felt like children running and dancing in the rain down the street surrounded by fabulous shops, closed by now, and a few streets lined and covered with umbrellas. 

A night cap or two for some at our hotel before bed at 2300. 

11 September

PORTLOE - MEVAGISSEY

Our last day of our Cornwall walk from St Ives to Mevagissey. Sadly I'm not doing it  as my good knee is very troublesome and I want to be able to play golf when I get home!?!?

I'm basking in the sun writing this at our Mevagissey Bay Hotel accommodation on our deck. Having to be mindful of the showers of rain that surprise me at times!

Waiting for a taxi to take me to The Lost Gardens of Heligan which is apparently a 10 minute ride. 

I farewelled the walkers as they climbed a steep hill overlooking Portloe then waited for my taxi at 1115 to take me on a 40 minute journey the scenic way to Mevagissey. Dave (my cabbie) was delightful and very informative telling me areas my walking party will be seeing. 

The Lost Gardens of Heligen was amazing. It is Europe's largest garden restoration of over 200 acres. It was lost because all the gardeners of the estate were sent off to war and were all killed so the estate was left and became overgrown until 25 years ago, when by chance a door was discovered in the ruins that led to the restoration of this once great estate, the finest gardens in Cornwall. I walked through the "Jungle" on raised platforms through exotic plantings and over the "Burma Rope Bridge" then into the native woodland in the "Lost Valley". The garden area was amazing with an area called "the kitchen garden" where there were heritage fruit, vegetables and herbs. The Italian garden was interesting. Produce from these gardens are used in the food centres within the estate. Heligan's farm animals are rare with heritage breeds of sheep, pigs, poultry and cattle. It was well worth a visit and after 3 hours of wondering around I took a taxi back to our hotel thinking I'd go and meet the walkers, to find they were already in the pub!!!

The walkers started on the Coastal path then deviated off through farm land on their way to Mevagissey. The first 5kms were done on the path which was quite slippery and difficult passing through Portholland where the coffee shop was closed on Mondays -sadly. After 5.5kms they reached Caerthays Castle and quickly dashed to the beachside cafe to escape the rain. Coffees and cakes all round then they winged it through fields and narrow tracks via Gorran toward our destination. A lot more wildlife was spotted on this trek including a nide of pheasants and droves of pigs. At the last field before entering the township they had to climb through a fence into someone's backyard to reach the track taking them to town as they took the wrong turn! A pint at The Rising Sun then onto the hotel to drop off back packs then down town for a drink at the Ship Inn where I met up with them.

Cleaning of muddy boots took place before a rest and spruce up for our last night. Champers for the girls and beers for the boys in the lounge with stunning views and a lovely "thank you" to Michael from Cherry on behalf of us all, for all his hard work in organising this great adventure. 

A 800 metre walk down to the village for dinner at The Fountain Inn. It was a strange feeling having the walk behind us and knowing we didn't have to don on our gear the next day. 

10 September

FALMOUTH - PORTLOE  (22.5kms)

2nd last day of walking. 

We got an early brekky today at 0800 as had to get a ferry at 0915 from Falmouth to St Mawes then a smaller ferry to Place House on the Roseland Peninsula to start our walk. These Ferries took 30 minutes. We headed off at 1000 walking 6 hours to our destination of Portloe in the rain!

We all enjoyed Falmouth. 

The start of our walk was pretty flat along the coast but for those with sore knees the slope of the terrain was arduous and the rain and wind didn't help much either. The coast line wasn't as pretty as it has been, however we passed a few coves of beaches below our path. There weren't many photos being taken due to the rain. 

Our first pit stop was at Porthscatho where we found a hidden hut called Tatums on the beach which sold the best coffee on tour so far and the Portuguese Tarts - (Natas) and delicious treats. What a find!

We were delighted to come across the Dartmoor Ponies on the track grazing above Treluggan Cliff. Here the terrain became interesting again and pretty. 

Nare Head was very rugged with a few enormous climbs up steps and boggy patches which was a challenge. We were climbing around the hill as well with the path meandering steeply up the cliff face. 

The site of Portloe as we rounded a corner of the path was very picturesque and very pleasing as we were soaked and cold!

Portloe would be the tiniest fishing harbour we have seen and so tranquil. We stayed at The Lugger Inn which was very comfortable and served a delicious meal for us for dinner. After dinner the girls relaxed chatting in the little lounge and the boys went up to the only pub here, The Ship Inn, for night caps of cointreau and glayva and no doubt the odd pint. 

9 September

FALMOUTH 

Our rest day!

All met for brekky at 0830 then everyone did their own thing until we met at the Quayside Inn at 1100 to watch the Eagles/Port Adelaide preliminary final. Oh what a match! the Eagles winning by 2 points. 

A good look around Falmouth, some going to the Maritime Museum in the harbour which has plenty of interesting displays telling the stories of Cornwall's nautical past. The town is the largest in Cornwall and has a great range of craft shops, galleries, restaurants and bars along its waterfront. There were many interesting galleries and shops also lining the main street just one street back from the wharf. It's a great town to have a rest day. We even found a Jacobs Ladder which Crow decided to climb up! 

Rest for a couple of hours after our exhausting television viewing of the Eagles! A catch up on this blog for me. 

Dinner at 5 Degrees West Bar and Grill before retiring without night caps! for an early start in the morning.