We had a nice breakfast on the patio of the B&B. This photo captures not only the breakfast, but my shoes hanging out of the B&B window. Although I’d managed to dry my shoes out completely in Cape Cornwall, the next day of walking had left them smelling like something died in them. In fact, while we were sitting outside the Beach Cafe in Porthcurno, I thought there was something dead in the bushes. It was only once we got into the B&B and still could smell it that I realized I was the unwitting perpetrator. Once I’d narrowed it down to my shoes, I hung them out the window. My brother brought some miracle spray that managed to get it under control, and the shoes were allowed in to the room after that.
Amazing vegetation outside the B&B–the stems are covered in vicious thorns, much like Devil’s Club at home, but the leaves are the biggest I think I’ve seen on any plant.
David and Sarah drove down from Frome to join us for a couple of days. First stop, the Telegraph Museum. Porthcurno is where the first transatlantic cable came ashore, and still is a hub for many trans-oceanic cables that reach all around the world. The museum was very well done, with lots of buttons to press and technologies to explore. Alas, I forgot to get a photo of the outside, but I did grab a couple of us exploring the underground tunnels–an escape path in case of fire or attack (the whole area was, of course, greatly protected during the wars.)
We were required to wear hard hats for this part, though Dave is actually at far greater risk of head injury in a B&B!
The view having emerged from the tunnels…
From there, we went to explore the Minack. What a place!
The building at the top is the cafe.
The play we watched in the evening centered on the green house.
I really thought they should provide a skull for people to pose on stage with…
Lots of cacti and tropical plants here, though many had suffered terribly over the last winter, which was unusually cold. This bed seemed to be newly re-planted.
Then David and Sarah headed off to check into their B&B in Marazion, and we headed down to the beach, where Dave looked like he’d go in for a swim, but it ended up being a polar bear wade instead 🙂
David and Sarah picked us up from the B&B and drove us the short distance to the Minack car park, where there was a stall serving stews from vast bubbling vats. Quite tasty. We ate it perched on the steep path down from the Minack, since the theater wasn’t opening for another hour (if only we’d read the instructions!!!)
At 7 we headed into the theater and took our cheap seats toward the top of the venue.
We’re all smiley and happy because Chekhov hadn’t depressed us yet…
The play was not my taste, though I’m very glad I got to see a production in this setting. The Cherry Orchard was thoroughly depressing, despite being the closest Chekhov got to a comedy. The actors were upstaged by an unbelievably athletic paddle-boarder in the water below, and a seal!
This entry was posted in South West Coast Path Cornwall