Shamballa Cruising Yacht Club: Road Trip continues

I think Devon is perhaps my favourite British county. It is picture postcard charming.

After picking up our part for the autopilot we made our way to Dartmouth, the port in which Songster is registered. I was very glad to see that this town was so lovely. It was much smaller than I imagined. It is quite beautiful with quaint old buildings and a stunning riverfront going out to the sea. We had a very nice cream tea at the Sloping Deck Restaurant on the Butterwalk, a 17^th Century building that due to subsidence does indeed have a pronounced sloping floor.

Pretty Dartmouth

The river mouth

The Butterwalk

I would have liked to have stayed longer in Dartmouth but Cornwall was waiting. Last year we couldn’t get into Cornwall. It was just too crowded and traffic would be backed up for miles outside the towns. But this year, although still crowded with holiday makers, was much more accessible. Our first stop was Penzance and St Michael’s Mount. The island is accessible by a causeway at low tide. The castle and chapel have been the home of the St Aubyn family since the mid-17^th Century. Some of the buildings date to the 12th century. Sadly we could only go around the outer grounds as the buildings were closed to the public on Saturdays of all times.

St Michael's Mount

Buildings on the Mount

Penzance harbour at low tide

Last year we had gone to John O’Groats, the northern most tip of the island of Great Britian so this year we wanted to complete the ‘End to End’ and go to the southernmost tip, Land’s End. We took a few happy snaps and a walked along the cliffs through heather and wild flower laden fields. It was very pretty and we imagined we could make out the Scilly Islands in the distance. Some Italian women we met at St Michael’s Mount had just returned from there and told us that due to the Gulf Stream the islands were like being in the Caribbean. It is very tempting to put those islands on my bucket list.

The cliffs at Lands End

Heather

Gorse and Heather - so pretty together

We went on to the Atlantic side of Cornwall and spent a day at St Ives. It was a beautiful spot. The tide was going out and boats sat in the mud chained to the harbour wall. Kids were splashing in the freezing water – the British are a hardy lot! We had a pint of ale at the Sloop Inn which was built in the 1350’s – amazing.

The Sloop Inn

View of St Ives from where we camped

Harbour of St Ives

Continuing north we stopped in Bude. Bude is a charming town at the northern end of Cornwall. It is renowned for its canal which was built in 1832 and in its heyday ran for 35 miles bringing beach sand and produce to Launceston. Now only a few miles remain and used only for pleasure boats. We were there at low tide and the entrance to the harbour and canal looked quite treacherous even from a distance. We then found out that the area was the site of many a ship wreak in the 19^th Century.