Myth and magic at Tintagel Castle...

Our last day dawned bright and sunny, perfect for the long haul up to Tintagel Castle. It's amazing to think that people lived in such a remote spot atop the cliffs - life must have been hard, especially in the winter. Whether you believe the King Arthur legend or no, it's hard not to be captivated by the mystery of the place.



















In the interests of supporting English Heritage, we enjoyed a hearty lunch at the castle cafe (okay, so I had a savoury "cream tea" and sweet cream tea - oops!). By way of penance, we elected (well, actually I insisted), that we walk up the hill back into the village. I can't say that I wasn't regretting it by the time we got to the halfway mark!


We found a fantastic shop in the village. It's owned by Peter Pracownik, a master of fantasy art who designed album covers for the likes of Hawkwind, Grateful Dead, Fairport Convention and the Groundhogs (yes, yes, I'm a card-carrying hippy). I was sorely tempted by an original line drawing of a dragon, or one of the many signed prints of his wonderful Tolkien works, dragons and elemental pieces, but I had to settle for a signed book (sigh). Guess what I'll be asking Santa for this year?

We were sad to leave, but it was time to go - until next time......

As I was going to St Ives.....

Despite the cloudy weather, by today I was suffering with the dreaded "sun-bumps". Not really prickly heat as it wasn't hot, but my skin just does not like the sun and reacts by coming up in loads of tiny bumps and blisters (sorry, yuck!). So, I reluctantly had to be "coat Mum" today (ie, I got to sit on the sand with all the towels, coats and stuff while the boys went boarding - hrumph!). I must have made a strange sight, sitting there watching the world go by whilst swaddled from head to foot to keep the sun off my skin.

The boys had a fab time, tho', and it made me smile to watch them all surf into shore together in a perfect line, high-fiving as they hauled their boards back out for the next wave. I thought I'd die laughing when Will came flying in on a huge wave and surfed straight over the top of someone's sandcastle!! They looked a bit surprised to say the least! Hopefully I might have some pics when the film is developed.

The evening was a trip to St Ives. Of course, we'd forgotten that it was Friday night so getting a table for dinner was a bit of a 'mare, and we couldn't get in at Coast, our fave restaurant. Luckily we did get a great place right on the sea front. The narrow streets and higgledy-piggledy old houses and ginnels remind me of Harry Potter's Diagonalley, so it's quite magical just strolling round the shops.

Hellboy - Guillermo del Toro - genius!

More waves today - just Pete and I as the boys were intent on "sand-settlement #3". Tide timing was spot on and the cloudy weather and breeze ensured much successful boarding : )

After watching the sand-settlement be destroyed by the tide, it was a dash home for showers, dinner and a movie.

The local cinema in Wadebridge is a lovely, traditional cinema (no ice-cream interval, sadly). Hellboy II was excellent. Guillermo del Toro is a superb director (if you haven't seen Pan's Labyrinth and like dark "fairy tales", beg, steal or borrow a copy - not for the faint-hearted, but fabulous imagery and wonderful effects). A quick pit-stop at the Spar and home to bed...

Eden project

Decided to give the towels a day off today and head off to the Eden project. It was every bit as good as we remembered it and we had a really good day.






We were a bit disappointed that they weren't doing the late night entertainment as it is really magical seeing the domes lit up at night, but this was made up for by the hands-on den-building and fire-lighting demo.




We scavenged a motley selection of poles, scraps of fabric, cut up inner-tyre rubber, rope and plastic sheeting and got to work.

Wet towels and Waves!!!

Quick update on last night - thought I'd wash the beach towels as they were full of sand. Biiig mistake. The washer wasn't working properly and the towels were soaking. There was nowhere to get anything dry (storage heaters = no night-time heat), so at 1.30am Pete was ironing (yes, you heard it correctly), the towels, to try and steam them dry. I was swapping them on and off the towel airer and the place was like a laundry! Got to bed about 2am, house steamy and towels still clammy and damp. Yuck!

This morning, towels still clammy, but worse than that is the smell - think wet dog meets old socks! Still, we are made of stern stuff so will be taking our pongy towels to the beach and waveboarding nonetheless!!! Just hope no-one is within sniffing distance - maybe the sea air will freshen them up?!

Waveboarding was fabulous, the tide was coming in and the waves were perfect. No sun so not too hot either. The boys made a fantastic sand "settlement" (far too big to call it a sandcastle). They diverted the water from the stream and created a brilliant series of moats around their various "buildings". It attracted quite a crowd by the time they'd finished. (photos still in waterproof camera, so will post later).

Hot showers (with the indoor towels thankfully), tea and a dvd to round off the day.