By the time this is published our annual holiday will be over again for another year.
Holiday in October ... and in the UK? We could be mad, but let me explain why and what we have done.
We did originally intend to go away at the beginning of September - as soon as the schools went back whilst the temperature was still (supposed to be) still quite warm. We've not been able to do that for a number of years due to my Open University courses always ending, usually with an exam in October. Not this year. (See previous posts for why).
However our planning did not happen this year and we were faced with either a holiday when we wanted it in lousy locations or a holiday in good locations at another time - which we opted for.
So now we are on a two centre holiday (in Wales and Cornwall) and a bonus night thrown in at Padstow with a meal at Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant.
In Wales, we attended Choral Mattins at Brecon Cathedral (lovely organ, enthusiastic organist, bored-looking choir), spent a day in Hay-on-Wye (which is actually in England), climbed three-quarters up a mountain (until the strong wind was literally blowing us over), went on a steam train ride (on the Brecon Mountain Railway), wandered around the plentiful paths around the cottage, which itself was comfortable although had a ladder to get up to the bedroom. It's not a holiday for us without a mention of a pub (or two) and with the local village (Llanfrynach) having one of our all time favourite pubs and places to eat (The White Swan), we were truly blessed. The standard has not gone down at all in the four years since we last visited. Anyone who wants to run a pub should visit this establishment to find out how it should be done! The Star at Talybont-on-Usk is another highly recommended pub for good honest quality, welcome and beer.
In Padstow a delightful, slightly quirky hotel gave us somewhere to rest our heads, whilst Rick Stein (OK - probably his staff) gave us a meal to remember. Langoustines (massive and in their shell) were my starter (I don't get Oysters the way my other half does), but we both had the Singapore Crab - a massive thing, broken up and stir fried in a spicy sauce, but still in its shell. Certainly a challenge to eat but definitely rewarding the effort. This was washed down by the best Pinot Grigio I have ever had. Coffee and liqueurs was all we could face after that.
The journey to Mevagissey would only take 45 minutes, so we took a scenic route, including the King Harry Ferry. Our sat-Nav took us a very obscure way into the village and it took us a while to find our bearings and get to a one-down, one-up, one-more-up cottage with a spiral staircase (an improvement on last week's ladder).
First couple of days have seen us meandering about the village and essential food shopping in nearby St Austell. Monday dawns wet and windy (as is the forecast for most of the week to come). The Eden Project beckons!
Whilst the Eden Project was good (although over-run with half term holiday-makers), the big news was that port of Mevagissey had been flooded while we were away and we missed all the drama. Meanwhile, a new saga begins - the rat in the cottage!
It turned out (after a builder's inspection and a couple of "rat"-free days, or rather, nights) that the rat that was running around the joints above the bedroom (on the middle floor of three) and rattling something incredibly noisy turned out to be a combination of the neighbours' early morning activities (whatever they were) and the wind rattling some loose slates that clad the building. I guess though was all for the good - apart from the fact that the neighbours ours could have been doing almost anything!
The rest of the week was spent mooching around Mevagissey, sometimes avoiding the rain and at other times enjoying bright Autumn weather in a lovely harbour-town. We discovered that the best lunch was to buy a crab from the fresh fish stall in the harbour and make sandwiches ourselves, using mayonaise from the local shop and, even with an over-priced bottle of white wine from the same shop, lunch was better and cheaper than you could get anywhere else. So we did this for three days (although once it was for tea rather than lunch)!
And so we come to the monster journey home, some 385 miles, taking eight hours including a couple of short stops arriving home at six in the evening and discovering that one of us (but not me) has left a coat hanging behind the door at the cottage in Cornwall. Quick phone call to the owner and it will be in the post in a few days.
Holiday over.
Now life can go back to normal :-)
