26th September - Walk to Dolzmary Pool/ Dartmoor Nat Park

26th September 2010 

• Walk up to Dolzmary Pool / lunch at Jamaica Inn / Dartmoor Nat Park

Awoke to a nice sunny day.  We had breakfast and Tom and Dad built a bonfire to light tonight. We decided to take a walk up through the back paddocks and head for Dolzmary Pool the largest fresh water pond in Cornwall.  It was a good walk, trying to be quiet so we didn’t scare the rabbits.  There were cows and sheep in the paddocks, they were pretty friendly.  We reached the Pool and had to climb over a few farm fences to make it around to the other side.  Legend tells us that this Pool is where excalibers sword was raised out of the water.  We walked home along the road, that had cows wandering along it and got changed for lunch.  We had lunch at Jamaica Inn just up the road, it was packed for Sunday lunch, they had a Hot Roast Beef Buffet with Yorkshire pudding for the menu today , so we piled up our plates, it was very nice.  We updated our blog.  Sorry but we can’t load any photos yet, the wi-fi connection isn’t strong enough, hopefully when we reach Somerset we will be able to load them.

 Dad decided he wanted to go for a drive, so we headed off East to Dartmoor National Park and the Two Bridges.  The scenery was beautiful, really open Moors with wild ponies, cows and sheep dotted all over them.  We pulled up on the road a couple of times to go and pat the ponies, they were very friendly.  There were little streams running through the paddocks and it was very green, but quite cold. 10 degrees.....  Mum and Dad said that they would like to come back to Dartmoor and stay for awhile, it is really nice.  We stopped off to buy some bread and fill up at the servo on the way home.  When we pulled up to our long driveway, 3 deer jumped out and ran across into the long grass.  They were small so they must have been young. That was the first time I had seen deer in the wild. Dad,Tom, Luke and I went out and started our bonfire, it was nice and warm and really dark and cold, mum stayed inside had a nice hot bath!!

We came inside as it was getting a bit chilly and mum made us bacon and eggs for dinner, and peaches and cream for dessert. YUM!!  We watched x factor on t.v, then I went to bed and read my book.

25th September - Bike Ride from WadeBridge to Padstow

25th September 2010 - Wadebridge>Padstow   Padstow> Port Isaac > Constantine Bay

Awoke to a bright blue sky today. We headed out to Wadebridge about a 20 min drive for a bike ride along the camel trail. We hired our bikes and rode off on the trail an old railway line that has been covered in cement and goes right along the Camel River.  Our destination was Padstow about a 6 mile ride away (10kms) there and back.  The trail was flat and we rode through paddocks with cows, horses, sheep and lots of birdlife along the river.  We came into Padstow and parked our bikes on the seafront for 50 p a bike.  Padstow is really nice, with lots of little shops on the harbour.  There was a lot of people here as it was sunny and saturday!!  We had lunch at a cafe up on the hill over looking the harbour a really nice view. The tide was out so there was heaps of sand. After lunch we walked along the sea path to a large sandy beach, the water was really rough as it was pretty windy.  We walked back into to town and dad bought some meat and vegetable pasties which we will heat up later at home.  Picked up our bikes and took the bike trail back to Wadebridge.

Caroline text us to let us know that the Dragons beat the Tigers to play in the grand final by 1 point!!!   Dragons v Roosters grand final next weekend. Don’t mind who wins, though we usually go for any team that plays the Dragons!!!

After our bike ride we headed off to Port Isaac a beautiful village (where Doc Martin is filmed).  Took a photo of the house used as Doc Martins Doctors Surgery for Vicky (Nics mum)  Dads Aunty and Uncle live here so we called in to see them, but unfortunately they were up in Somerset getting ready to head over to Turkey tomorrow on holidays.  We parked the car and walked on the coastal path into town.  A tiny harbour with little shops and houses surrounding it and paddocks right down to the cliff face.  It was really cold and windy so we all had 2 jackets, beanies and hoods on.  From here we travelled to Constantine Beach about 20 min drive away. The beach was long and sandy and really rough!! There were lots of surfers out catching a wave.  They even had a lifeguards hut and flags. We had a play on the beach and kicked the soccer ball around, but didn’t stay too long as it was really windy and cold.  We drove down some really skinny country lanes on the way home.  Tom has been keen to build a bonfire outside so we made our way back to collect some sticks for the fire.  Another great day in Cornwall.

24th September - St Mawes Castle

24th September - St Mawes Castle, Porthleven, Penzance

A bit  cloudy today so we decided to take a drive down south to St Mawes.  We travelled through green pastures with stone fences and made our way down to the car ferry, across the river to St Mawes.  This was a lovely small village with a few small shops and a passenger ferry to take people across the water to Falmouth. We walked along the water and headed to St Mawes Castle right on the point of the coast.  This castle was one of King Henry VIII coastal fortresses.  It is round in structure and has a moat around the outside. It is 3 stories tall and the middle level has 5 cannons pointed out to sea. On the other headland opposite  stands Pendennis Castle, both of these castles were built to defend the land against enemy entering by sea.  The castle had nice green grass and gardens around the outside.  It was cool.  We walked back to the car and drove to Porthleven another small seaside village for some lunch at the Red Lion Pub it was 3pm and we were all starving.  We went down to the footy field and had a kick around with the soccer ball while mum did a little food shopping to top up our supplies.  We left Porthleven and drove down to Penzance to have a look at St Michaels Mount,  a castle on an island off the coast, took some photos and headed home.  Dad dropped mum and I off at the pub so that we could update our blog and check our emails for an hour, he saw a fox and nearly ran over a rabbit on the way back.  It was only 12 degrees so we lit the wood fire and watched the movie Troy on t.v.  A long but fun day!

23rd September - Coastal Walk

23rd September - The Coastal walk from Looe to Polperro- 6 1/2 miles 
(10 kms)

This morning we awoke to a cloudy day so decided to drive down the south coast about 20 mins to a beautiful town named Looe.  It had lots of little shops, a harbour, pebbly beach and lots of boats.  We walked over a bridge and onto the coastal walk heading west towards Polperro.  We started walking along the seafront and then headed towards the paddocks right on the cliff edge.  We had to go through little gates along the trail as we were walking through cows and sheep.  The view was outstanding as you will see from our photos.  It started raining at one stage but we just keep walking and it eventually stopped.  Dad was picking blackberries along the way, and we we saw heaps of rabbits.  We came into a little cove with Smugglers Cafe sitting on a hill, so we stopped for some lunch and a rest before continuing another 3 miles to Polperro.  We had to walk down into town from the back as a part of the coastal track was closed as their was a landslide and it was too dangerous for people to walk the track.  We walked down a really steep hill into Polperro, and there was all little cobblestone streets and lots of shops.  We walked up to the coastal lookout which was really nice.  Tom and Luke had an icecream and Mum, Dad and myself had a cup of tea and some cake in a nice tearoom sitting outside in the sun.

We walked up to the top of town and waited for the bus to catch back to Looe.  This was a small bus and on the way back to Looe it actually stopped to fill up with petrol!

We picked up the car and as it was getting late, stopped off at The Jamaica Inn for some dinner.  Very Chilly outside tonight.  After dinner we headed home for some t.v and bed.

We had a great day, the walk was the best thing we have done in Cornwall so far!!

22nd September - Golitha Falls and Bodmin Moor

22nd September - Foggy and 16 degrees

Awoke to a beautiful morning, so quite and foggy.  There were lots of rabbits around this morning.  We had breakfast and played outside while mum and dad hung out the washing and checked out the walking maps.  We decided that we would go and check out Golitha Falls just 4 miles up the road.  We parked the car and crossed the road into a really nice woods with a stream running next to it.  There were lots of trees and orange leaves all over the ground.  We took the walking track up to the falls, Tom was doing his best Man vs Wild impersonation (very funny)!! and as usual had dirt all over him.  It was a really nice place.  After Golitha Falls we drove up to Minions on the Bodmin Moor to The Hurleys a group of stones on the Moor.  The fog was really thick, so we parked the car, piled on our jackets and took a walk along the Moor.  There was horse poo and sheep poo everywhere.  Wild ponies roam free up here and we were lucky enough to come across a few, we threw our apple cores close to them so they could eat them.  They had really large stomachs and weren’t very friendly, it was a bit eerie with all the fog, you could barely see them.  We met a few people along the path that were locals.  The fog was getting thicker so we decided to make our way back to the car.  Our shoes were muddy and our pants wet from the grass.  It was starting to rain so we made our way home.  Mum made us ham and salad for lunch and then we played Monopoly.  Dad went into the farmers shop to buy some firelighters and get the fire going, so that we could dry some of our clothes.  Still trying to connect to the internet but too much fog around today.  Had spaghetti for dinner, watched a bit of t.v and went to bed.

Sorry for delay in blog.  We have not had any coverage at the farmhouse.  We found a pub up the road that has free wi-fi so will enter everything from up there.

21st September - Lyme Regis to St Neots (Bodmin, Cornwall)

21st September - Lyme Regis to St Neots (Bodmin)

We awoke to an other sunny day, Johns wife cooked us up a yummy hot english breakfast with eggs, baked beans, sausages, bacon and mushies.  They even had vegemite for us to put on our toast. After breakky we packed up our bags and said goodbye.  We made our way down the coast and stopped off at Beer, at nice little town with a pebbly beach and nice flat water.  There was a few paths to walk up and get a great view. Had a look around town and then drove a bit further down the coast and stopped along the way to look at the view. We stopped for lunch at Okehampton a large village at the top of Dartmoor Forest and made our way to Littleworth Cottage at St Neots our accommodation for the week.  We drove down tiny lanes with great scenery, lots of sheep and cows.  Every time a car came the other way we had to pull right over into the hedges so that it could pass, very tight.  We followed the GPS and reached the farm gate, the drive way was made of white pebbles. The cottage is made of stone and inside is really nice. There are rabbits everywhere, the fields are really green we have a huge area of paddocks that we can run around in.  Tom loves the swing that is tied to the large tree out the back.  The cottage is on 2 floors, downstairs in my bedroom, mum and dads bedroom, a really big bathroom and a separate toilet, the hallways are all black slate tiles.  Upstairs the floors are all wide wooden floorboards. Tom and Lukes bedroom is up here, so is the big country kitchen and lounge room with fireplace. The views are great out of every window.  After unpacking we drove in to St. Cleer to the farmers shop and stocked up on our groceries for the week.  It was a great shop, full of fresh veggies, dairy, frozen food, chutney, chocolate, meat etc.  It was getting late so we headed home.  Mum made chicken breast and salad for dinner and we watched a bit of t.v and went to bed.  

20th September / Lyme Regis

20th September -  Sunny Day 21 degrees

We had yet another buffet breakfast and made our way down to Lyme Regis it was about a 2 hour drive away. We arrived at our Bed and Breakfast named Manaton on Hill Road.  It had really nice views of the sea and the countryside. John the owner was really nice and met us at the door. Mum and Tom shared a double room with ensuite, and Dad, luke and I stayed in a family room in the room next door.  We took our bags up and then went to explore Lyme Regis.  We had to walk up a steep hill and then down a hill until we came across a beautiful garden/park and down the stairs to the seafront and pebbly beach.  We were starving so we had some fish and chips and sat on the pier and ate them.  The seagulls here are huge some of them are brown with spots the others are grey and white like at home.  We walked along the seafront passed beach huts that you can hire out (like little houses) painted all different colours there were some older people in front of theirs lying on deck chairs and having a cuppa!  There was no sand, just pebbles all different shapes and sizes, we were throwing them into the water.  We had an ice-cream and walked around to the end of the road, then made our way back to the other side.  There were lots of boats and we walked around the pier to meet a couple of fishing boats that had just come in with their loads. Dad bought some cockles off a lady and made us try them!!  They were nice, of course Tom spat it out. Then we walked back to our bed and breakfast and had a rest and shower before dinner.

We had dinner at the pub on the seafront and watched snooker on the t.v.  Dinner was good, Tom had a huge chocolate sundae for desert with heaps of cream on top. I think we have all put on 5 kgs since we have been away.....  We walked back home, watched some t.v and went to bed. 

18th September - London to Manchester / 19th September - LIVERPOOL V UNITED game / Manchester to High Wycombe

18th September - London to Manchester

Today we leave London for our drive up to Manchester.  We had our breakfast and packed all our bags, then went for a walk to Harrods and purchased an internet stick as there will be no wi-fi when we travel around U.K. Dad organized a taxi to Hertz to pick up our hire car and we made our 4 hour drive up the motorway to Manchester.  We arrived at about 6pm (cold and raining) and went straight to our hotel right across the road from Old Trafford. Mimi and Grandpa and Anne and Steve (friends they were staying with), met us at the hotel and we went into Salford Quays for some dinner, before returning to the hotel at about 11pm. It was good to see them. The hotel was fully booked as the football game between Manchester United and Liverpool was on tomorrow.  

19th September - Manchester to High Wycombe

Today we awoke early, and had our breakfast (big buffet breakfast, I had a plate of bacon, eggs, sausages, baked beans) cereal, cuppa tea and toast. YUM. The breakfast room was full of Manchester United Supporters!! (We were here to see Liverpool).  After breakfast we caught a taxi to Anne and Steves place to have a catch up and show them all our photos from our trip so far.  Anne made us a cuppa and some nice cakes and biscuits.  We said goodbye to Mim and Grandpa, they are travelling to Turkey tomorrow, then Steve took us to have a look at Salfords Rugby League ground and then dropped us back to the hotel to check out and head over to Old Trafford for the Big Game!!

There were people everywhere, we went and had a look in the supporters shop underneath the stadium, it was massive and packed with people! We bought some caps and Tom bought a scarf.  We walked into the stadium and found our seats.  They were undercover on the Northern side inline with the penalty box.  The players were warming up on the field, so dad and I went down a bit closer to get some photos. (mum wanted a photo of Torres) he was really tall and solid, he looked much bigger in real life than on T.V. Wayne Rooney was short and stocky. The crowd was getting very noisy as the stadium filled up with people, everywhere there was Red!!  The crowd was singing (not very nice songs to the liverpool fans) who were in a small corner of the stadium. At 1.30pm the teams came out onto the pitch and the crowd got even louder!! There were 75,000 people there, probably about 5,000 liverpool fans sitting in a small section. Thats the maximin for an away teams supporters because if they were all scattered, it would cause fights.  Manchester United scored first, a header from Berbotov. The crowd went crazy!  Manchester United scored again, an overhead scissor kick from Berbotov again. 2-0 at half time, in the second half Liverpool got a penalty, Gerard scored, then they got another penalty and Gerard scored again (the ball went straight through the wall of players and into the net). 2-2, with 6 minutes to go Berbatov scored to give Man United the win.  Everyone went crazy and were singing all their different songs.  

We took some photos of the ground, when it cleared out, the crowd was all singing as they left the ground.  We went back to our car, and made our way out of Salford.  The traffic was blocked in every direction, so we took a few different routes to get out of the North Country.  We stopped to get some food and decided to stop at High Wycombe for the night as we were all really tired. We got to bed about 11pm after a day we won’t forget!!

17th September - Hyde Park/London Eye

17th September - Hyde Park/London Eye

We awoke to a beautiful sunny day. Today we caught a taxi to Hyde Park a huge park in the middle of London. We walked along the paths to reach Princess Diana’s memorial, which is a large circular man made stream, made out of granite (very unusual). It is supposed to resemble Princess Diana’s life.... I don’t really know what it resembled. Then we walked along the Serpentine path to the Peter Pan statue that A.M Barrie installed. He wrote Peter Pan and had it installed in the gardens at night. He got the inspiration to write his book from meeting a young boy named Peter in Hyde Park. Amazing to be standing in the same spot. There were lots of swans, ducks and geese, and we walked around to the round pond right in front of Kensington Palace, the last home of Princess Diana before she died  We walked through the Park, and saw lots of squirrels and nice gardens.  As we were walking, the Queens guards on horseback were trotting along the street so dad ran across to get a photo of them.  The roads were all blocked off as the Pope was in town, so we could walk in the middle of the road (a strange feeling)!  

We walked along to Buckingham Palace, which was surrounded by black and gold iron gates, and beautiful purple and red flowers.  There were 2 Queens guards standing guard at the front of the palace, they are on shifts and guard the palace 24 hours a day, every day of the year.  We took lots of photos and then walked down to the Queens guards stables, where the changing of the guards takes place every day at 11.30am.  There were two guards at the front on huge horses, their clothing and helmets etc where in perfect condition and very shiny.  We walked on to Trafalgar Square and climbed up onto the black lion statues for some photos.  In the middle of Trafalgar Square is  Nelsons Column. Lord Nelson had the Column built after his successful battles against Napoleon.  We had lunch at a Pub, then walked down to The London Eye.  There were people everywhere, and we had to line up for about half an hour for the tickets.  We went into a 4D show about the London Eye before we lined up to get on it.  (Check out the photos).  We had a great view of London.  After the London Eye, we caught a taxi back home.  Dad cooked up some pasta for dinner and we sat down and watched Lion King on DVD, and ate popcorn and chocolate.  Mum and Dad went to the West End to see the Live show Chicago!  They said it was great. We were asleep when they got home.