Bodmin, Cornwall to Appledore, Devon

Friday, June 6

Today is the 70th anniversary of D-Day and it was also D-Day for us at Bedknobs in Bodmin. Sadly we had to leave this gorgeous place. After fond farewells (& a little gift for us from Gill and Kim), we headed off with the ultimate destination of Appledore but planning to stop along the way at Port Isaac, Tintagel and Clovelly.

One of the narrow lanes Sat Nav decided formed the fastest route to Port Isaac

After yesterday's experiences with the Sat Nav in our car, I really don't know why we trusted it again today! Obediently following it's instructions, we turned, against our better judgement, off the A road and onto a much smaller road. Before too long this road had turned into a narrow lane but there was just nowhere we could turn around. The next thing we knew we were facing a ford with a measuring pole beside it with a scale up to 6'. Thankfully, it was less than one foot deep today and, because the "lane" had widened at the edge of the stream, a car (obviously a local) was able to squeeze past us and crossed safely, so we gingerly proceeded.

The Ford (taken through the windscreen of a Peugot - ha ha)

Safely on the other side we continued on for a few more miles until we reached a sign pointing to Port Isaac but sadly the road didn't improve much. We finally reached Port Isaac (where Doc Martin was filmed), parked the car and set off on what was to be the first of three steep climbs for the day. Of course, it is downhill to the coastline but then you have to walk back and the lactic acid was really building in our legs then. It was easy to see why the show's producers had chosen Port Isaac for the series because everywhere you looked was just quaint and gorgeous. We could see the Doc's house on the other side of the small harbour with Bert's place just below it. We were interested to hear so many Aussie accents around too. Obviously the series has been very popular in Australia. After all the photo opps, we were tempted by another Cornish seaside favourite, the fresh crab sandwich which lived up to its reputation in every way. We stopped for a cup of tea and bought some Cornish clotted cream fudge before continuing to our next planned stop, Tintagel.

Port Isaac with Doc Martin's house & Bert's place

Noelle outside the Doc's house

We weren't taking any more chances with Sat Nav so, although we keyed in our next stop, we ignored some of its instructions and stuck to more major roads (by Cornwall standards, anyway). We had no trouble finding Tintagel and after a steep walk downhill to the entrance area, we watched a short movie about the origins of the King Arthur story, then spent a bit of time mooching about the area and taking photos. Again, the walk back was steep and it had also become quite hot. Al bravely headed off on foot but I whimped out and availed myself of the Land Rover return service. We reached the car park at much the same time. We then walked around the town area and went in to see the 14th century building previously used as a post office but now owned by the National Trust. It was very interesting and we were glad we had joined the National Trust in Australia before leaving home as we receive reciprocal rights here.

Al with the legendary King Arthur's Castle on the cliffs above

Noelle in the garden of the old Post Office, circa 14th Cent

From Tintagel we headed north to Clovelly. What a walk and what a time capsule Clovelly affords! The steep cobblestoned paths and steps were quite difficult to walk down and all the time the return journey was in our minds. Just like yesterday in St Ives, we found the tide out so the harbour was simply pebbles with boats leaning on their sides, and required some imagination as to how pretty it must look when the tide is in. Almost every house, shop or restaurant we passed was so gorgeous - whitewashed with black window and door trims and overflowing flower boxes and baskets outside them all. There were also a few cats lazing on sunny window ledges - almost as good a life as ours at present. The walk back was made by zig-zagging across the cobblestones to try to reduce the gradient, but this meant a lot more steps. Apart from needing to catch our breath, the views were fabulous so we didn't mind stopping often. We kidded ourselves that we were burning off the English breakfasts, fudge, cream teas, etc we have eaten this last week but our clothes tell us otherwise.

Al & Noelle with waterless Clovelly Harbour behind

The view from the harbour showing the steep climb back through the village

The short drive from Clovelly to Appledore was really pretty. We are staying in Appledore because Angie, our friend and business partner, comes from this area and her Aunty Betty lives in Appledore. We have heard so much about Aunty Betty so we are looking forward to catching up with her tomorrow. Also, a cousin of Angie's - Gail - who we met when she visited Oz a few years ago, lives in the next town, Bideford where Angie was born, so we are seeing her tomorrow too and she is going to show us some of Angie's old haunts and where Angie & Tony were married, etc. It's a bit like an Angie and Tony pilgrimage! Mobile phone reception was terrible in Cornwall and we had not been able to contact Betty or Gail to confirm details and felt like recalcitrant children when we arrived at our hotel in Appledore and were told "Aunty Betty has been ringing here - she is worried about you - please ring her". We duly did this and now feel as though we have known Aunty Betty for ever. We smiled when we went down to dinner in the hotel's restaurant and the waitress asked us whether we had got the message from Aunty Betty.

Today has been the warmest so far during our time in England with the temperature hitting 25C or about 82F, and a strong wind all day. We've been warned of a storm coming so we'll see what the next few days bring.

 

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