Thursday, May 15, Day 27 - Early morning in Kingsteignton

We had a good storm last night, and the waters of the estuary are high. I was up at 5:30, and was glad I was because there must been a dozen or more swans, plus herons and other birds, enjoying floating on the waters. Again, I heard the loud plop-plop beating of a swan who had taken flight, but I didn't get a picture.

I accidentally figured out something this morning: Even though it seems silly to take a flash picture of a large area (like the outdoors), the camera operates according to its flash rules and keeps the shutter open only a brief time, reducing the chance of blur. The pictures, taken with a little zoom, are somewhat dark and grainy; but with a little increase in light using PSP, I actually did get a few distinguishable pictures this morning. How nice. There's nothing like seeing the real thing, but a picture to stir the memory and imagination is a good second best.

I just can't believe the view we have from here, sitting just above the marsh with a clear view for a long way. Passage House has built a new set of condos, and they opened just days after we checked in. We're lucky they didn't put us in the newer (maybe bigger and better according to their standards) units because they are further away from the marsh and their view is blocked by our building. We are really fortunate to have this place.


While we were checking our e-mail and I was posting my little blog last night, during the storm, I mentioned that the roof was leaking in the Reception area of the hotel. Here are some pictures. It was rather funny, but it wouldn't have been had the glass roof caved in. As I was trying to get pictures of the marsh through the windows, one of the gals who was trying to catch rain water as it dripped through the roof told me that the area was out of bounds, and I had to move back to the main area. They were good natured and looked like they were even having fun chasing the water with a rag and what looked like something no bigger than a flower pot.


Here's a picture of my navigation tools - two maps, one with a detailed view and one with an overall view, and the GPS, all sitting on my lap. At the same time I'm trying to keep track of our position and anticipate where I need to tell Lauren to prepare for another roundabout or merging of roads, I'm looking up to try to see signs that will identify a place name with something on the map and something the GPS tells us - plus, I'm snapping pictures when I think there's something in the side or front view that might be an interesting detail of our trip. Because Lauren's eyes are constantly on the road (and many of our pictures will tell you why - cars coming in all directions, blind curves everywhere, hilltops with no view of oncoming traffic), I also try to give him a running commentary of what I'm seeing as well as any information I've read about the place.


While we were traveling to Cornwall yesterday, I spotted a Hawkins sign - it's a restaurant, according to the sign, and we didn't drive down there; but I have to wonder if perhaps ... well, probably not. There were a number of Hawkins families who immigrated to the U.S. from here during various early stages of development in the New World - but it was interesting nonetheless.

Devon and Cornwall have spent a good bit of money on their roads in the past year or two, and they're really nice. Here's a picture where our GPS kept telling us to make U-turns and take other roads because, according to it, we were out in a field somewhere! It was funny. We've learned to argue with "her" (our Nuvi has a woman's voice) and tell her just to be patient because we know what we're doing at that particular moment. Most of the time, we haven't a clue what we're doing, and we are very reliant on our Nuvi!

Land's End in Cornwall is much like the Land's End we visited in Portugal - very, very windy, huge rocks left in the ocean where the waters have eroded the land, and absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. Like the Grand Canyon, there's no way you can get a picture that even begins to explain the swelling of all your emotions when you see such a place. All our tiredness immediately went away and we were totally joyful and relaxed. All my pictures are on Flickr in the Cornwall set for UK 08.

We thought it was funny that we found this bake shop at Land's End advertising that it was the "Home of the Cornish Pasty" but it had nothing but cheese and onion pasties (which we didn't want). We just had to laugh. And then there's a Land's End Clothing Company, but they don't sell any Land's End products! I have to say it again (and those who know me have heard me say it over and over) - Marketing!!! Yeh, sure!

We had our minds so set on Cornish Pasties, especially the meat variety, that we left Land's End, drove just a short distance and took a long, narrow, winding road down to the cove at Semens in search of a local place where we could get the real deal - more than one variety of pasties. What a lovely little town. We found steak pasties (chopped steak, onions, potatoes, and perhaps a little carrot) at the Breaker's Cafe and were able to enjoy eating them indoors, watching the wind blow outside and mess up everyone's hair.

The view at Semens was also lovely - but what else could we expect from such a place! We stayed there just long enough to soak in a good dose of the ambiance and left just before the marine layer began to overtake the area. We had a little rain in places driving back, and considering the storm we had last night, we figured we lucked out with perfect timing to get the most out of everywhere we were yesterday and then to get home safely.

There's much to see in Cornwall, especially at the tip of the peninsula, and touring it certainly isn't a day trip. We didn't see any or many of the ancient Roman ruins, although we saw evidence of them from place to place as we drove by. We now have a mental picture, based on reality, of where they lie, and that's more than we had before we traveled here.

It was interesting to read in my Berlitz Travelers Guide (one of the best I have seen) that Land's End has been owned by Nycal, Inc., of Washington, D.C. since 1991. That corporation may own the land and the buildings, but the views belong to the earth and its inhabitants. That an American, or any other corporation, could think they could own anything of real value such as those fabulous views gives me a great laugh. Marketing, again! You can charge me to park, but you can't charge me for the joy I receive when seeing these awesome natural surroundings. Disney is fun, but Disney isn't real. To me, the technology to create Disney is more impressive than the results.

Last picture for my blog - my birthday supper - pizza and a salad of grapes, strawberries, and yogurt topped with Cornish saffron bread crumbles, all put together by Lauren. I am lucky to have a husband who takes such care to put together a meal for me, even when we're traveling and have to do with what we can find! Thank you, Lauren! Now we are the same age again. Let's go for a bunch more of these dual birthday / anniversary events!

And next to last note for today's blog: There's this fellow on BBC named Jeremy, on a show called Top Gear, who loves to drive, and he takes these exotic road trips to less populated areas of Britain and even as far away as Iceland. He's on the Dave channel, whatever that is. We love his show. I wish we had it in America. He's in John O'Groats now, and that's at the northeast tip of Scotland, just south of the Orkney Islands. What a beautiful country that is.

Although the U.K. is a beautiful country no matter where you go, if I were to come here again and have a choice of where I would spend nearly 5 weeks, I would go to Scotland and drive and drive from one coast to the other, from the north to the south, from ferry to ferry. It's not that I wish we had done that this trip, because this trip has been perfect. We've seen so much and learned so much. But there's something about Scotland, in particular, that stirs and intrigues me in a special way.

Last note for today: It's amazing how busy this place, Passage House, is. There seems to be a regular stream of business travelers here, and we've casually heard any number of interesting conversations about business issues while we sit here, do our e-mail and blogging and picture uploading. Today, I'm listening to two business people, a man and a woman, who are discussing someone on the job who is "a lovely person" but who shows up drunk on the job too often. She will be dismissed, according to what I hear, and they're discussing just what language to use to give her the termination notice. As the conversation continues, I think these two are from Human Resources, so the conversation is very interesting to me. I enjoyed being a Human Resources specialist for a few years out of my work career. It was a lot of fun (as well as hard work).

On another day, we listened to a conversation between two men about driving and cars in England. One man purported to be the expert who was advising the other. I didn't look at them, and I assumed the expert was an older, fatherly figure, who was impressing his younger son about buying a car and driving here. Lauren informed me, though, that the two men were nearly the same age. Interesting.

Last night, the conversation was among three people who were discussing how to switch off during a presentation they were giving. They had been in Cornwall and, I presume, had given the presentation, and they were preparing to do it again here.

At the same time, last night, a large group of German tourists had just gotten back from their day's bus tour and they were lining up at the bar for a tall cool one before supper. We have learned, from casual conversations over the last few days, that supper here is usually late and people have to wait. This is a nice area to sit in, though, with windows everywhere providing a view of the estuary, so I don't hear many grumbles that people are having to wait too long.