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Cornwall

Where King Arthur meets Rosamunde Pilcher

By Beyond All Maps - Portraits of our Planet by Thorsten Mehret

September 25^th, 2016

I was still on my 8 month world trip when my girlfriend asked me if I would like to join a 10 day trip to Cornwall after my return with her mother and a friend. I love to travel and have visited many exotic places in my life but I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that I first had to google Cornwall to find out that it’s the name of the southwestern tip of England. Pictures of green meadows, cliffs with emerald sea below and nice fishing villages caught my attention.

I also learned that Cornwall seems to be the dream destination for all retired Germans, mainly caused by the TV movies based on the „Herzschmerz“ novels from Cornish writer Rosamunde Pilcher. Guess who brought up the idea to my girlfriend? As I always make sure to have a good relationship with my girlfriend’s mom (she makes brilliant cakes you must know), I accepted to join in.

The plan was to stay in four different locations and to explore the surrounding area in day trips. So we chose Tintagel, Penzance and Torquay (which is already in Devon) and a last stop in Weston-super-Mare to be closer at the Airport. All in all it was a really nice trip with many great picture opportunities, although rarely making use of the best lighting conditions with the soft morning or afternoon light. Yep, traveling in a group brings fun but also means to make compromises in terms of time management. That’s life.

Tintagel

The myth of King Arthur is the business model for the small town of Tintagel. Plenty of tourists are drawn every year to visit his castle and Merlin’s cave below. In fact the ruins from the 12th century are way too young to fit into the assumed time period of King Arthur around the 6th century, but people believe what they want to believe. Recently, after my trip, they found the foundations of another castle close by, which after some research was dated from the 6th century, now perfectly matching the time of King Arthur. Hurray, the business can go on.

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Beside the hustle and bustle around King Arthur, the area has to offer some very scenic coastal walks and when in the morning the first sun rays appear and the mist from the sea slowly clears up revealing the the majestic high cliffs , well who does not start to believe in myth.

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Bodcastle - a couple of years ago dozens of cars where washed into the sea from a flood, caused by heavy rain.

Bodmin Moor

To be honest, I was a bit disappointed. The Jamaica Inn, build in 1750 with a reputation as a famous smuggler stop at this times, is a tourist trap nowadays. They hand out free walking maps into the Bodmin Moor (great), which proofed to be unusable and made us only stray around (that sucked). Additionally the area looked rather boring.

The only highlight in this area was a very old and scenic church.

The Rump - Coastal Walk

Highly recommend half day walk, with beautiful scenery.

British Telephone Booths

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Padstow

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Bedruthans Steps

It’s hard to believe that this place is in England and not somewhere at the mediterranean sea. Stunning landscape and colors.

St. Ives

St. Ives is a popular seaside town and it´s a pleasure to enjoy the atmosphere while strolling around.

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Coastal Walk Around Lands End

Lands End is the most western part of Englands mainland. The area is owned by an investor who established a kind of theme park. It´s a big tourist trap. The good thing is, you don´t have to pay entrance to see the stunning scenery. It´s best to park the car at close by Sennen Cove and then to walk along the beautiful coastline passing Lands End on the way. Go back the same way or inland.

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Minack Theater

The theater was established in 1932 by Rowena Cade. It still runs every year from May to September and sees 80.000 spectators. What a magic place for a theater.

Mousehole

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Penzance

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St. Michaels Mount

I was totally astound when I googled Cornwall for pictures and a picture of St. Michaels Mount popped up. It looked surpringsingly similar to the famous Mont Saint Michel in the Normandy which I visited a couple of year ago. It´s quite a bit smaller in real life but still impressive. I hoped for a nice illumination in the evening and was ready with my tripod but unfortunately without success. All black.

Lizard Peninsula

Another beautiful half day hike. The scenery from Kynance Cove to Lizard Point is nothing short to spectacular.

Many roads on the peninsula are not much wider than a car. Fortunately traffic is low.

Lost Garden of Heligan

Cornwall and Devon are famous for their gardens, and there is a reason for it.

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Lanhydrock House

Many parts of this national trust landmark are from the victorian era around 1620. It´s in a very good shape and feels like a time capsule inside and outside. There are plenty of aged volunteers around which proudly tell their stories about the house. Highly recommend.

Torquay

Another aged seaside town. The glory from a past age can´t be overlooked.

Dartmoor

Grey, foggy, spooky, mysterious, this words came into my mind hearing Dartmoor. Well, my whole knowledge about the area was based on an old movie “The hound of Baskerville”

Although we had excellent weather while visiting the area, it was not difficult to imagine how some grey fog in autum or winter time would dramatically change the atmosphere to spooky.