So I have to apologize for how long this entry has taken. My life has been work, travel, paper, sleep, and eat for the past few weeks and nothing else. I will catch up though, I promise.
I awoke early on Sunday to get the YMCA's cheap and rather pathetic breakfast before starting off for St. Michael's Mount. I had decided rather than take a bus to Marazion that I would hike along the Southwest Coast Path for two and a half miles to get there. After some initial hardship with actually finding the path, I set off on my way. It was a lovely, bright, sunny day so perfect for being on the sea. However, I ran into an issue. The path came to a set of stairs...that were blocked by bars. The group of people in front of me climbed around the door by climbing up the slope next to the stairs and then going back over the wall. I, however, decided to take a different route. I took off my shoes and socks, rolled up my pants, and set off down some stairs to the beach. In high tide, this area is completely covered with water, however at low tide, it is a wide expanse of sand and pleasant for walking. I got to squish my toes in the sand and walked in the water when my feet wanted some frigid cold refreshment. Low tide is apparently THE time to walk your dog as practically everyone I saw had one or two with them.
St. Michael's Mount is an island in the bay with a tall cliff at the top of which sits a castle. There is a small village of about 30 people at the base of the cliff but really the castle is the majority. Since it was low tide, I crossed to the Mount on the Giant's Causeway that is covered with water at high tide. The legend goes that the Mount used to be home to the giant Cormoran and that Jack, of course, had to slay the giant to keep him from eating the townspeople. I bought my ticket and after watching an intro film about the Mount, I made my way up. All the signs said that only those in good health should attempt the climb so I thought it would be very difficult. It wasn't. You just followed the path up the hill and it wasn't very steep or far up. Along the way there were excellent views of the bay, gorgeous flowers, and ruins of medieval military lookouts from when the Mount was a fortress.
The best part about the castle is the rocky sloped lawn in front of it when you reach the end of the path. There is a wall around it with cannons with a great breeze always blowing and lots of grassy spots to sit and enjoy the view which is one of the best I have seen. I sat on a corner of the wall and looked out to sea for a good while before I went in to the castle. Ok, so I had a photo shoot too because I liked the wind blowing my hair. Don't judge.
The castle itself is underwhelming. Of course, it couldn't help but be next to all the other castles I have been to but still I expected a little more. The same family has lived at the Mount since the 1500s but the conservation of the Mount falls to the National Trust aka the blue bloods can't afford their castle anymore. There was construction going on on the North Terrace but I fell in love with the South Terrace. It is the perfect place to have a party or a wedding with lots of space, castle architecture, and the previously mentioned beautiful scenery. The castle interiors were pretty standard and boring with the exception of the mummified Egyptian cat. Apparently, collecting mummified animals was an acceptable pastime in Victorian England. Who knew?
After spending a little more time on the castle lawn, I decided to descend to look for lunch. By this time, the tide had started to come in. At high tide, a ferry service starts to and from the Mount for 1.5 pounds. The ferry had already started by the time I got down to the causeway, however some people (in direct violation of the sign posted nearby) were wading across since the water wasn't too deep yet. I had the foresight to wear my bathing suit under my clothes, so I whipped off my socks, shoes,and pants, hiked up my purse, and set off down the flooded causeway. I was not going to pay 1.5 pounds when I didn't have to. It was remarkably simple with the water getting thigh deep at its deepest and I reached end of the causeway with no harm done. I was the last person smart enough or stupid enough to attempt the crossing, but since nothing bad happened, I say smart enough. I had a good laugh at the saps who took the ferry before moving on to find a pasty.
Cornish pasties are amazing. They are portable pies filled with all manner of deliciousness. The one I got had steak, potatoes, and carrots in it. Completely delicious, filling, and not to mention cheap. I also got some chocolate Cornish ice cream to top off the meal before setting off again. The beach was flooded with the tide, so I took the path this time. It was wonderful to be walking in the sun on the beach surrounded by the beauty of Cornwall. Other than the unfortunate sight of a naked bather, the walk back was pleasant and uneventful. By the time I got back to Penzance, I was so hot that I was totally ready to jump off the seawall into the English Channel.
Of course, when I got to my favorite section of the sea wall, there was a crowd of obnoxious teens, tweens, and families there. I tried my best to ignore them as I disrobed, hid my purse beneath my clothing, and without a word jumped into the sea. Let me tell you, it is as cold as you would think it to be. Also, make sure to hold your top and blow out your nose or else your top will come up and you nose fill with saltwater. Not that that happened to me or anything. Luckily, I fixed my top beneath the water before anyone noticed. I jumped off two more times but the water was so cold and my stuff so vulnerable that I didn't actually stay in the water very long. Plus the stupid teeny girls squealing about how high up it was (it was like five feet above the water) made me severely irritated. I set off back to the YMCA to shower before seeking food.
Here again I ran into problems with traveling alone. After showering, I went back into town and spent an hour trying to find somewhere to eat. I can never make up my mind and being alone didn't help. Everywhere was too much of a bar or too expensive or wasn't clear about where to order. Finally, desperate, I settled on a Thai restaurant and had some fried rice that was supposed to have soy sauce but didn't. I was feeling down and slightly ill after my day and then the lack of sustenance so I went back to the hostel and went to bed. At 8:30. Even my middle aged Asian woman roommate was stunned I was going to bed that early. Whatever, I was tired and feeling lonely. I was also woken up a few hours later by fireworks for an unknown reason which made me incredibly cross as well.
I checked out right at 8 the next morning and set off for the bus station to explore the Minack Theatre and Land's End. I got on the special summertime only open top 300 bus and expected to enjoy the ride to Porthcurno where the Theatre is. Instead, there was severe wind, I got smacked in the face by tree branches, and the driver skipped Porthcurno and dropped us straight off at Land's End. Land's End town looked very pretty and quaint however the bus dropped us at Land's End complex which is a tacky tourist trap if ever I saw one. It houses 3-D attractions, much too expensive gift shops, and a few restaurants. It also wasn't open when we arrived and I hadn't had breakfast. I went and sat on a rock around the side of the complex to stare at the sea and cliffs until it opened.
Land's End is a lovely area. Gorgeous hills, cliffs, rocks, sea, and heath but the complex is just annoying. Once it opened, I could hear the 3-D shows going with their cackling witches and Knights of the Round Table battling. I got a cheese and onion pasty from one of the shops and then left the complex to walk along the cliffs. They have a spot where you can have your picture taken with the official Land's End signpost with the distance to your hometown but it was stupidly expensive so I passed. I was more interested in the plaques that had apparently been erected for the millennium with resolutions and promises by visitors to Land's End. The theme of most of them was to love as much as possible but there were a few interesting ones like the people who ran a home for retired show pappilons and the mother who wanted to take her family to Euro Disney.
This whole time I am surrounded by people there with their spouses, friends, children, etc. and I started to feel really alone. I saw the distance from Land's End to NYC, factored in hundreds of extra miles for Indiana, and freaked out a little about just how far I was from home and those that I love. I decided to skip the Minack, head back to Penzance on the next bus, and catch an earlier train back to London. I had had enough of being by myself plus my backpack was REALLY heavy. I still had two hours before the next bus so I wandered down to the metals craft shop in the farm right by the complex. There was a kitty outside so I stopped to pet it and got to talking with the man who made the crafts in the shop. His name was Edward and he was a very nice older man. He immediately, of course, ascertained that I was from America and started to ask me the requisite questions about how I came to be in the UK. Meanwhile, we had moved into his shop and I was looking at his rings. He told me he could custom make me any ring I liked so I chose a star ring.
I spent the rest of the time until my bus watching Edward make my ring at his work desk and talking about his days as footmen for the family living on the Mount, how he came to make silver jewelry, and the children's books he writes about Big Head the Pirate Cat. He was very nice, explaining everything to me as he did it, and just in general making me feel a whole lot better than I had felt the whole day. He also had a cat named Marley who had no fur on one of its ears so Edward coats it in suntan lotion every day to keep Marley from getting sunburn. I figure anyone willing to sunblock a cat's ear is my kind of person. I thanked him very much for the ring and talking to me and he told me I was wonderful and to have a good time the rest of my days in the UK. Feeling much better, I went to wait for the bus which came promptly and to my utter delight a train was waiting in the station to go back to London thus getting me home at 7:30 instead of 11:45. This also allowed me to relax, settle in, and put my stuff in order before going to bed which wouldn't have happened had I gotten home when I was originally supposed to.
Though the weekend ended on a somewhat sour note, I still thoroughly enjoyed the R&R. Cornwall is an absolutely beautiful place with so much to see and experience that I didn't even get to do. It restored my mind and spirits a great deal as well as teaching me that I don't like traveling on my own. It is alright during the day when there is plenty to do but once everything closes and you are left on your own, it gets kind of sad, at least for me. Activities such as a movie or the theatre are needed to prevent ennui from taking over. If ever I seek to travel alone again, I will be much more prepared, but really I would just prefer to have others with me. As long as they wanted to do exactly what I wanted to do of course :)
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