TELGEN VACATION
REPORT
Cornwall, August, 1999
Or, what we did on our summer vacation, part three.... My
parents' second visit with us in England gave us the perfect excuse to explore
places a little further afield than the London area. We had originally
considered heading out to Cornwall (the very southwest part of England) for the
total solar eclipse that took place in mid-August, but decided not to fight the
crowds and the weather. (Wisely, as it turned out, since we had a nice view of
the 95% eclipse in London while Cornwall was very cloudy.) What I had read
about the area looked interesting even without an eclipse, however, so we left
for the west at the very end of August instead.
After some five hours of car travel, we
arrived at our hotel in Marazion, on the outskirts of Penzance (no pirates
there, however). The hotel faced the island village of St. Michael's Mount,
which can actually be reached on foot by a causeway when the tide is out. A
chapel and house sit atop the island, which was one of the Cornish sites used
by the 1996 film version of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (Diane and Bill
say: two thumbs up). Other bits of the countryside were suitable for the
shipwreck scenes; the cove above seems suitable for sinking a ship or two.
Situated on the Lizard Peninsula (the very southernmost point of England),
Kynance Cove has many rocky inlets and caves that you can see if you get there
around low tide, as we did. This was just one of several beautiful coastal
areas we saw around Cornwall.
With so many miles of coastline, it's only natural that Cornwall
should have plenty of castles. This picture was taken inside Pendennis Castle,
one of two that flank the harbor just below the city of Falmouth. It seems
Henry VIII was so paranoid about the French coming up the estuary into Falmouth
that he built not only Pendennis, but also St. Mawes Castle across the harbor.
(His fears were groundless; the only attack Pendennis ever faced was by land,
when the forces of Oliver Cromwell made it the last castle to be captured by
the parliamentarians during the English Civil War.) Nevertheless, the castle
has a lot of interesting historical displays, as it was used for military
training even up through the Second World War. David, of course, liked looking
at the big guns, although lately he finds ships more interesting than weaponry.
There was more to Cornwall than pretty scenery and castles, of
course. There were some interesting industrial museums—including a huge steam
engine, used in a mining business, which was still in operation. (Impressive
enough, and then you see the actual shaft that the miners crawled down in order
to collect tin and copper from the rich coastal deposits. Whew!) We also saw
the national seal sanctuary ("Pet Rescue" in person!) and a beautiful
garden at Trengwainton (one of many in the county).
But you can't visit Cornwall, reputedly the
stomping grounds of King Arthur, without a stop at Tintagel Castle. While
legends ascribing Tintagel as Arthur's birthplace have little basis in fact,
this was probably the highlight of our trip nonetheless. As you can see from
the picture, not only did we have beautiful weather, but the setting of the
castle is spectacular. There are actually two parts to the castle, which lies
on a headland that is slowly being worn away by the power of the Atlantic. To
reach the portion where Bill and David are standing, you have to climb a very
long staircase in order to view the ruins of a castle that was first begun in
the 13th century. The views were spectacular, and after you had had your fill
of wandering around the steep headland (no rails, of course), you could ascend
yet another long, steep staircase to visit the second part of the castle, which
lies further inland. It was a beautiful place to visit, and you felt privileged
as well, for obviously the Atlantic will eventually have its way with the place
and it will all fall into the sea. But hopefully not before we can visit again!
There was much in Cornwall we didn't get to see, so of course we'd like to go
back someday if we can.
Copyright © 1999 by Diane Telgen. All rights reserved.