Out and about....

Why I should still be surprised that time seems to fly by, I have no idea but when it comes to writing this Blog, I am often amazed at how far back in time the last thing I wrote about turns out to be.

Since I posted anything, I have been to the Midlands several times, to Builth Wells (Mid Wales), Harrogate and Tintagel. I have loads of photos, especially of the trip to North Cornwall and this is what I want to write about here.

Early in May, the Archaeologist and I drove off in the motor home to stay at a caravan site between Boscastle and Tintagel on the North Coast of Cornwall. The site is on the top of the cliffs and we had rather good views of the sea.

Despite the fact that the sky was overcast and the wind was blowing hard, it was still good to be by the sea again.

We'd already more or less decided to use the local buses and not drive anywhere once parked, so we made our first trip one to Boscastle. The weather wasn't any better and it rained as well but hey - we were on holiday, so no matter!! (Determination - you have to have it in this country where the weather is concerned...)

The Harbour Light was where we had lunch to begin our visit...

As can be seen, it wasn't the best day to visit anywhere....However, jump forward four days...On our way home we decided to take part of our journey looking at a bit more of the coast and that meant going through Boscastle again. The weather was much better:

Although the sun was shining, it was still very windy....

....thus, the Archaeologist had great difficulty getting his pictures, particularly as he selected a rather exposed position to take them from..

Boscastle is the home of the Museum of Witchcraft, which the Archaeologist was keen to see. I was less so but nevertheless, curious. If you were really interested in the subject, I think it would be possible to spend hours in there. I found myself less enthralled than the Archaeologist and although I did look round all of the displays, I can't really claim to have seen them all as I found I wasn't comfortable there.

In the village itself, it was fairly sheltered and there was a big bank with loads of Primroses (which the photo doesn't do justice to) and a marvellous Honeysuckle.

The main reason for visiting this part of the Cornish coast was to go and see Tintagel Castle. We were fortunate that the weather was fine and sunny that day too.

The Castle itself is split between the headland and the island nowadays, so in order to visit it all there is a lot of steep climbing. I think I will let most of the images speak for themselves...

This is the pathway up on to the island, which seems steep at the time but is nothing compared to the 'staircase' which ascends the headland...

I took the photo above as I returned from looking around; it felt incredibly steep!

Around the island:

Sheep are used to graze the island - probably, Hebridean - a Rare Breed - good on this kind of terrain.

Moving on to the headland, which viewed from the island gives a good idea of how that part of the castle is laid out...

Because of the fact that some of this building fell in to the sea many moons ago and also, because it wasn't possible to approach this area by the usual route since it was closed for renovation, there wasn't a great deal to view from this part of the castle.

There is a Landrover 'bus' service to and from the village. I didn't take it on the way down but agreed that it was a good idea to do so on the way back up!

After a lunch of Pasty (naturally!), we went to look at a National Trust property in Tintagel village: The Old Post Office. right in the centre of the village, it was once a long house and used as a dwelling for far longer than it was used as a Post Office.

This is the rear elevation and as can be seen, it is very old. I has a lovely garden:

With little secret paths...

The NT produce patterns for the two bed covers in the bedrooms which can be purchased for 40p each. The property is small but interesting to view as a domestic building.

A further, fascinating site is King Arthur's Great Hall (http://www.king-arthur.co.uk/home/tintagel). It resembles a hotel from the main road (once again, almost in the centre of the village) and was developed in the 1930s but a real surprise awaits...

Having listened to the story of Arthur, whilst sitting enthroned (if there are only two of you or you are lucky enough to bag them) via a sound and light show, you find yourself lead into what feels like an amazing Tardis: the hall you come across is a complete surprise and it is enormous. I will let my photos speak for themselves:

The enthroned Archaeologist!

The stained-glass windows are beautiful...

Either side of this hall are corridors.

As can be seen, this is an amazing place and well worth a visit, if you happen to be in the Tintagel area. There is also a very good Tourist Information Centre with a big car park and this is not far from the Great Hall.

Whilst the Archaeologist walked miles along the Coastal Path, I ambled nearer by, taking photos.

The Archaeologist striding down Hidden Valley..

Looking up the valley......

....into it......

...and along it.

Some more pictures from my walk...

We stayed on the site over the weekend and set off home, to begin with at least, by the coastal route, stopping off in Crackington Haven, just a bit further northwards. It was very windy and not really very good beach weather but we stayed for lunch, sat on the beach for a short while and took some photos.

Finally, there was a very picturesque house up on the hillside, which took my fancy.

We really enjoyed this trip despite the some disappointing weather and will be returning to the area very soon.

Here....and there....1

It's been a long time since I got round to posting anything again but here goes......

On the second weekend in April, the Archaeologist and I sallied forth in our mobile home to stay in Brighton. Originally, this had been in aid of the Marathon but sadly, the Archaeologist wasn't fit enough to do it....so, we pottered about doing other things instead and, on the day of the event took notes (me, especially - in readiness for next year...) and generally joined in as spectators.

There were a huge number of runners and they streamed past us for ages. Once the leaders had begun their journey back along the promenade, with those following on going 'outwards', it was almost impossible to get across the road.

The organisers had a lot of clearing up to do...

...and the winner ran the course in around 2 hours. He was a farmer from Kenya and had superb technique: long strides and relaxed, upright posture..

There was loads of fruit and refreshments for those who finished.

Earlier in the day, the green, baggage lorries trundled past....loads of them.

Before and after this event, we explored the town...The weather was lovely for most of the time we were there, except for the cold wind.

On the first morning, we decided to take the Volks Electric Railway from the Marina in to the town. However, when we got there....

...which was disappointing, so we walked.

A sit down on the big wheel was called for and we got some splendid views..

...and I couldn't help but admire some rather beautiful flats.

During the weekend, we wandered the Lanes, ate good food and visited the Royal Pavilion. 

(Image from http://brightonmuseums.org.uk/royalpavilion/)

It is an amazing building in which there are no photos allowed. Although it looks Indian in origin on the exterior, inside it looks Oriental. The reason for this is suggested as being the fact that few people had been out East in those days (1700s) and had limited experience of what Eastern culture consisted of, so they just did what they thought related to that part of the world. No expense was spared though. At one point the building was used to house wounded Indian Army officers, who presumably, felt at least a little bit at home, especially when outside in the gardens.

The  royal stables have now become the Museum and Art Gallery.

The balcony of the restaurant provides a pleasant vantage point for viewing the gardens in front of the Pavilion.

It is rather difficult to discern but there was a guy making huge bubbles and lots of children running to catch them.

Because the weather had been so beautiful we opted to stay a further night but unfortunately, the sea fret moved in..

....so different from the day we arrived!

Before we left the caravan site, I just had to get a picture of something I had never seen before: an Airstream motorhome. It is possible to see increasing numbers of this make of caravan over here these days, but I have never seen a motorhome before.

I think it was quite elderly as it wasn't exactly in the first flush of youth.

More travels next time....

A Wooly weekend

Once a year, Wingham Wool Works visits the local area enabling a lot of spinners, knitters, felters and others to get their 'Fibre Fix'.

They set up on the Friday evening and provide two days for perusing, sampling and buying their wares.

Many ladies come to sit and spin because, for £6 for each day, you can take sample lengths to try out.

Others come to just buy....well, in point of fact, most of us are seduced into buying at some stage. There is a vast array of fibres from Merino and Merino/Silk blend, linen and various man-made fibres, through all sorts of luxury ones, such a silk, camel down, cashmere and Quivet; this last probably the most expensive of all, so not much comes along...There is a selection of books and journals, equipment, dyestuffs, yarns and everything necessary for felting and needlefelting. 

Ruth Gough, who with her husband Alan, owns Winghams, gives demonstrations of spinning techniques and the use of various pieces of equipment to process fibre with.

This year, I decided I wouldn't get any fibres except some for a felting project for which I didn't have the right colours...

However, I also succumbed to the temptation of some of the luxury yarns for my smaller projects. 

From left to right these fibres are,
Dyed Tussah silk
Camel down
Mulberry silk
Camel down and silk
Yak and silk

About half the Tussah silk tops are spun and will be plied with some dyed Gotland singles which are ready. The rest, I haven't decided about yet.

This is the dyed Gotland fibre, which I finished spinning on the Saturday and...

...this is the silk. In reality, the Gotland is rather darker than it looks in this picture: one is fairly hairy and the other very smooth, so I am interested to see how they blend.

Instead of doing lots of sampling (although I did some), I plied some other yarns I had previously spun but I haven't been organised enough to write down what they are.

As always, it was a very good and sociable weekend!

Visiting a show....

This weekend, we took a day out to visit the Creative Crafts Show being held at the Three Counties Showground in Malvern www.sccshows.co.uk It had been on for two days already and Saturday was the last. We took the motorhome as we haven't been out in it much and found somewhere to park have lunch before going into the show itself.

One of my main reasons for going this year, like last, was because the Knitting and Crochet Guild has a stand there but this time, I wasn't helping out.

The stand looked very good and the fact that it was so much bigger this year helped a good deal. Lots of people stopped by and I was told it had been quite hectic at times.

I sat for a while and had a chat and then set off to have a look around. I wasn't after any wool or fleece, or indeed, anything else but predictably, before I left, later on I did get my purse out.

There was lots of yarn for sale, buttons and haberdashery, jewellery and patchwork, together with some foods and some paper work. 

There were also a number of workshops each day.

In the end, I bought a very large Lucet and some yarn from New Forest Mohair. I bought some of their yarn last year and found it beautiful to knit with, although generally, I am not a great fan of this particular wool.

We bought a cake from the purveyors of such things and had a tea break, then returned to say goodbye to everyone and have a last look round. By that time, some stall holders were beginning to put their things away and outside, the rains had returned....