Everything comes to an end, including our journey through Cornwall and Devon. This fourth part of my travel report is therefore the last.
When I woke up on day 16 at the aforementioned campsite, I thought it would be a great plan to walk to Penally Hill with Timo. From that hill I should have a nice view of Boscastle. A small village that was hit by a huge flood in 2004 as a result of very localized and heavy showers. Both the village and the harbor are located in a narrow valley that flows into the sea. At the time, the water could only flow in one direction and therefore left a trail of destruction.
After breakfast we then drove leisurely to the city of Bude. There is an outdoor swimming pool there that literally borders the beach and fills with seawater at every high tide. Once at the edge of the pool, I had a somewhat surreal photo in mind of the pool with the sea in the background and the steps as a connecting element between the two.
Suddenly, however, two elderly ladies swimming appeared right in front of me. One touched the shore and swam away again, but the other was apparently forced to adjust her swimming goggles a little better on her head. A perfect moment, so quickly refocus, determine the best composition and print. The result is a photo that appeals to me much more than the first. In my opinion, the gesture with her hands, the bright orange swimming cap and those neoprene gloves make it a successful photo of a remarkable and funny moment.
After Bude we drove to the last location, which was mentioned in my photographer's guide: Sandymouth Bay. According to the description, a suitable place for abstract photos of rocks. From the first moment, the rocks here appealed to me much more than those from the previous blog post. The beach was strewn with large pebbles and bordered on one side by rock walls with amazing colors. Yellow/orange next to blue/gray rock, a nice contrasting combination.
When my eye fell on the pebbles of the beach after a while, I saw a nice contrast in addition to the colors: the round shapes of the pebbles versus the irregular shapes of the broken boulders on the wall above.
Then I was lucky again. I had already searched several times in the previous weeks for rocks that disappear into the sea in a beautiful way. But unfortunately that search always came to nothing. Now, however, I saw something, more or less as I had envisioned it. Rocks that form somewhat 'lines' that run into the sea and also lead the eye to a beautiful triangular rock in the background. When I took this photo, I immediately envisioned a black and white print, precisely to emphasize the shapes of the different rocks. But in the end I thought the light yellow and blue color of the sea had a nice added value, which I did not want to leave out.
The last destination of the day was Clovelly. A picturesque village with extremely steep, cobbled streets and a nice harbor that is all privately owned.
Walking back to the parking lot we passed a terrace with a beautiful view of the sea. A good time to try a local specialty just before closing time: tea and scones with jam and whipped cream. A calorie bomb of course, but very tasty!
After that short culinary stop, I saw the picture below a little further on. As someone who has no interest in cats at all, I of course had to point the camera at them.
In the evening we found a nice spot in Instow, and to top it all off we were treated to a fantastic sunset.
Also in this town, a former railway line had been transformed into a beautiful walking and cycling path. Nice to kick off there with Timo the next morning. Especially when photogenic old station buildings have been preserved. Pay particular attention to those bright red buckets to extinguish any fire. Awesome!
A walk through the town of Barnstaple did not really appeal to us, but nevertheless it did yield the somewhat strange scenes below. So you see, it always pays to have a camera with you.
In the afternoon we took a nice walk along the coast from Mortehoe. A tour of a peninsula aptly named Morte Point because of the many shipwrecks. As you can see from Timo's ears, there was a strong wind again that day.
The last coastal villages we visited were Lynton and Lynmouth. Separated by a steep cliff, but since 1890 'connected' by a water-powered railway line. Both trains have a water reservoir of over 3000 liters, which is fully or partially filled depending on their position (bottom or top) and freight. Gravity then does the rest.
Our tour of Cornwall and Devon more or less came to an end. We left the spectacular views of the coast behind us with some nostalgia. Nevertheless, we still had a few fun days of impressive sightseeing before finally arriving at Folkestone for the return journey to mainland Europe.
There was, among other things, the old and quite dilapidated abbey of Cleeve.
Monkey World, a shelter for monkeys rescued from the most dire circumstances.
Another beautiful walk, this time in the South Downs National Park with those characteristic English views.
And also this appealing picture with all those beautiful lines in the landscape.
And finally, a visit to a typical English castle could not be missed. Arundel Castle is owned by the Howard family and is still (partially) in use today. The accompanying gardens are just as impressive as the castle itself.
Finally, a small tip, if you are planning a trip to the United Kingdom yourself. Buy a National Trust membership as soon as possible, preferably before you travel. Many of the beautiful places in this travel report are managed by this organization. With a one-year membership you have free access to the attraction itself and you also do not pay parking costs, which can be quite expensive. You will undoubtedly earn back the purchase price (€152 for two people) in a very short time.
So it's over. It's been a fantastic few weeks. We don't know exactly when and where, but it is clear to both of us that we will return to this beautiful island in the foreseeable future. As Vera Lynn once sang: “We'll meet again some sunny day”.
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