Weekend in Cornwall

This trip was originally published on travelfreak

Details on this and other trips at 

http://travelfrreak.blogspot.co.uk/2009/06/cornish-land_24.html

Something about this place is different from England, the language for sure and the people too! Its again one of those not so frequented places in UK, tourists visiting UK would'nt really visit Cornwall, but its quite good a place for people staying in UK to spend some quality time. Cornwall is a separate country apparently, similar to Wales and Scotland, but somehow people don't really know about it. Am not sure how this sovereignty works, but the Cornish have their own flag etc, and their English accent is different (& better) too!
We had driven from London to Cornwall, and actually landed up there because on a long weekend, we left London in a car with no idea about where we are going, and as there was no accommodation available anywhere on the way, we reached Cornwall, the tip of UK. After calling up tens of hotels during the entire drive, we found a youth hostel which had rooms free! So even though our earlier plan was to go to upto Exeter only, we drove on till the very end of UK, into the heart of Cornwall, till St Ives. St Ives is a bustling little sea facing town, with quite a lively night life. Most of the people there were too old though (which is somehow true for a lot of places in the UK, hajaar old people enjoying a quiet weekend in the countryside)! St Ives had good Indian food available though, that really helped!

Our youth hostel was in Zennor, in the middle of nowhere, on a deserted road near the town of St Ives.The road was dark at night, but during the day you realised it was an old house barn that had been converted to a youth hostel and was situated on a cliff next to the sea. Quite a lucky find, given that the other option was to sleep in the car! Did a small trek in the early morning, climbed down the cliff next to the hostel next to the sea.

 The next two days were just driving around in the area. Went to Lands End, its the farthest tip of land of UK. There was a mela type thing happening there, good timepass. Tried one of those kiddie sliding things, realised as adults you fear those more than kids do! It was like skiing, you see 4-5 year old kids swooshing past you, while you standing there clinging to any support you can find!

There is a theatre in Cornwall, Minack theatre 'Under the stars'. Its a amazing open air theatre which is actually on a side of a cliff and the plays are staged in the evening, under the stars with the sounds of the waves lashing on the rocks as the background. Its awesome,and in case you land up at Cornwall, you should definitely see a play there.

Just next to the theatre is a beach which you wouldnt find detailed in any of the maps around. Its hidden by cliffs all around, with white sand and clear blue water. We discovered it just because we were at the theatre, and got a view of the beach. If you can find this beach, should definitely go there. Cornwall is generally warmer than the rest of UK, as its in the Southern end, so that beach may be open to swimming even when the rest of the beaches in UK get too cold. There are a couple of water sports happening in and around Penchance, like cliff jumping etc in case you are interested (Din get to do much of it though).

On the way back, we stopped at Exeter for a snack. It has an impressive cathedral, the picture is below. Heard some more stuff to do there, but somehow never ever get time to do all I want!!

On the way back we stopped at the Eden Project, an environment park setup to preserve the different fauna and flora on this earth. Interesting and different! They maintain all these different life forms in temperature controlled greenhouses, to preserve them. I think the aim is to have something similar to a Noah's Ark ready in case its ever needed!