All the guidebooks say that when you are in this corner of England, you must go see the Eden Project, which we did today. We even travelled there and back by bus and foot, which got us a discount on our entrance tickets. (They have a strong environmental mission and promote recycling and other conservation measures.)

The Eden Project is a giant terrarium built in a former clay pit. The main attraction is two climate-controlled biomes, huge geodesic dome enclosures that look a bit like large alien bubble habitats that have landed on the British countryside. Inside are plants from the tropics and subtropics – one part is Mediterranean biome, the other is rainforest. Ben and Susannah spent much of their time taking photos of exquisite flowers and everyone sampled the baobab smoothie, though not everyone loved it.  With the indoor exhibits plus extensive outdoor gardens and installations, we made a full day of it.

Back in Fowey we had dinner and wandered around the harbor. After the kids were asleep, N and S ambled two doors down to the Safe Harbor, our neighborhood pub, and enjoyed half pints (it comes in half pints!) of local liquid refreshment (Cornish Rattler and St Austell Amber, if you must know). Sitting on a bench outside the pub, preparing these words for you, dear reader, we saw the moon rise over the opposite hill – nice treat at the end of the day!
   
    
(Believe it or not, the picture below shows the second rare corpse flower we’ve seen blooming; the first was in the Smith greenhouse several years ago.)

Today’s highlight was a trip to a steep rocky island that is connected to the mainland only at low tide, named after St. Michael, and has a church on top – no, it’s not the one in France, it’s St. Michael’s Mount in Cornwall.  Local legend also has it as the home of Cormoran the Giant killed by young Jack.  (A cobblestone in the path up to the castle is reputed to be his heart, pickled in brine by Jack until it shrank to a stone.)

We started with a tour of the village by Bob, one of the 26 residents who maintain the island from firefighting to gardening to occasional midwifery or sea rescue.  The castle on the hill has been inhabited by the St. Aubyn family since the 1600s (and still is) but they allow tourists to tour the upstairs rooms and take in the vistas from the terraces.  The extensive gardens are designed to be viewed from above.

On our way to the island, the tide was low and we were able to walk across the causeway, but by the end of our visit, waves had covered most of its length and the only option was to leave by ferry.  The ferry service uses several different piers as the tide rises.

We caught late afternoon train out of Penzance en route to Fowey where we arrived at the lovely Trevanion Guest House.  The town is picturesque, nestled on the banks of a river harbor overlooked by hills – a charming destination.

(Fowey)

Today we split up, with the adult ladies going to St. Ives, an artsy seaside community on the north coast.  With the bright, sunny weather, people were out in droves on the beaches and the waterfront streets and shops were humming.  We visited the Tate St Ives, a modern art museum whose architecture was its best exhibit – the way the rotunda captures the sunlight and frames the blue sky was mesmerizing.  We also saw the Barbara Hepworth museum, which showcased many of her sculptures in a garden she designed – a quiet oasis in the midst of the city.

We got take-away for lunch (including pasties!) and ate it on a bench overlooking the beach.  We had no sooner been warned about the seagulls by a nice local lady sitting next to us when one swooped down and nearly knocked away one of our pasties.  Thereafter, we guarded our lunches fiercely, shooing away all beady-eyed seagulls who came close.

We had a scenic walk around “The Island”, a peninsula at one edge of the city that at one time became an island at high tide – great views in all directions.  The way back to the bus station took us past more galleries, affording the opportunity to scout for painting reprints and jewelry.  There really is something about the scenery and light in St. Ives that begs to be painted!

Once back in Penzance we took a short jaunt to Mousehole – with a name like that, who could resist!?  (It’s pronounced Mowzel, though…). The harbor is full of algae but that didn’t stop the kids from swimming!

As we were going to St. Ives… the other group was doing something silly – or, rather Scilly.  Nick and the kids took the Scillonian ferry to St. Mary’s, the largest island of the Isles of Scilly.  There they followed yet another coastal path past the heather and a close-up encounter with a local bovine to arrive at remains of an Iron Age village and a Bronze Age burial site.  They rounded out the visit viewing the archaeological finds and shipwreck salvage at the island museum.  Then back to the quay in plenty of time so they wouldn’t miss the only ferry back – luckily no one got seasick on the return trip. 

Our two parties connected for a quintessential British meal of fish and chips.  Note for future: “mushy peas” are even less tasty than they sound on a menu, but pear cider – even the £1 variety – is quite delicious.

 (St. Ives)  
    
    
  

(Mousehole)

(Isles of Scilly, St Mary’s – note, picture quality is reduced because these are pictures of pictures)
    
  
 

Our day began with a ride in an open-topped double-decker bus through the Cornish countryside. The view was phenomenal, although the necessity of ducking the occasional low-hanging branch made the ride more interactive than usual. The bus took us to Land’s End, the westernmost point of England.

After bypassing the Disneyfied tourist attractions, we took in the views across the ocean and the rugged coastline. The main activity of the day was a 5-mile hike along the Southwest Coastal path, which was some of the most striking scenery one could hope to see. The alternating stacks, caves, and arches in the rock, deep turquoise waters, and rolling green hillsides were exhilarating!

We saw a few beaches at Porthgwarra and Porthcurno, but the real highlights of Porthcurno were the Telegraph Museum and the Minack Theatre. Porthcurno was the main landing point for undersea telegraph lines for all of England. We got to meet someone who had worked on the telegraph lines for years and he demonstrated some of the still-operational equipment. The Minack Theatre is an unexpected and beautiful open-air amphitheater carved in the rocky cliffs. The view is breathtaking and the steeply terraced seats and landings are interspersed with vibrant garden plantings. The whole complex was the vision and hard work of a single woman, helped by her gardener and his wheelbarrow.

Some of us stayed to see a play that evening – a comic western, no less – and had the great fortune to sit next to the writer/director. It was a theatrical experience we will not soon forget!

We awoke to wet and grey weather in our first morning in Penzance but were rewarded with a quintessential English hot breakfast, including multiple choices of eggs, toast, bacon (distinct from “streaky bacon”), tomatoes, mushrooms, porridge, and even “hogs pudding”, a type of sausage.

Some of us stayed comfortably in the B&B, but a few others explored the stalls of food and crafts for “Quay Day”, the last day of the midsummer festival, which were just starting to open.

The clouds started to clear by mid-day as we boarded the #10A bus – a double decker! – to take us to the Geevor Tin Mine.  The views from the top deck were lovely, including a patchwork of rolling fields and hedgerows, flocks of sheep and cows, and very narrow lanes edged with trees that the top of bus kept scraping as we passed.

The Geevor Tin Mine represents an important part of Cornish history – the mine complex includes over a hundred miles of underground tunnels, some extending out under the ocean up to half a mile deep.  When the mine ultimately closed for good in 1997 (a result of crashing tin prices worldwide) the surrounding community rallied to keep the equipment from being sold and to preserve their mining heritage in the form of an interactive museum.  

One can still travel through the works and see the machines that processed the ore – including ball grinders, conveyors, shaker tables, and other separation units.  We also enjoyed seeing the massive machinery that kept the mine working.  We had a chance to pan for “gold” (a mix of colorful minerals in beds of sand) and to take a guided tour in the mine tunnels themselves, complete with hard hats and mining jackets.  We ended our visit with some proper Cornish ice cream in the museum’s cafe with a view.

We’ve made it to Cornwall!  The journey was a long one with multiple modes of transportation – drive to Logan, red-eye flight to Dublin, short hopper flight to Exeter, taxi to train station, train to Penzance, and short walk to our lovely B&B, the Camilla House.

We arrived in time to wander the city a little and take in Mazey Day, the penultimate day of the weeklong midsummer festival.  We have a sense the reveling will continue far after we are asleep!  After some excellent take-out Indian and Thai food on our front porch, we headed to an early bed, ready to explore more in daylight tomorrow.

The Howe family has an adventure planned – we’re heading to England for a 2-week jaunt.  Unlike our trip with Chester (the RV) around the U.S., we’re sticking to a small part of England – just Devon and Cornwall, the southwestern-most peninsula – but we’re going to explore it in depth.  Cream teas and pasties – here we come!

Stay tuned for posts and pics starting on June 27…

Bar Harbor boasts a festive 4th of July parade that snakes through town, and we were delighted to start our holiday watching it. This year’s theme was “hometown” – apparently every hometown has Shriners in little cars!

Capturing another aspect of Mt. Desert Island, we then hiked Beech Mountain as the final summit of our visit. Listed as one of the most popular mountains on the west side of the island, it features a short steep hike to a fire tower with expansive views throughout. Ben conquered the “glory rock” in the parking lot too.

In the late afternoon we stumbled upon a combination “pizza and a movie” theatre, complete with built-in tables to eat while watching – what a treat!

The rain held off all week, but by Friday night, tropical storm Arthur had made its way to coastal Maine. The fireworks were moved a little earlier to accommodate the oncoming storm, but they still had to contend with light rain. Nick and Susannah watched the show from across Frenchman Bay (the kids didn’t want to venture out) – the fireworks’ brilliance was only slightly diminished by the clouds of smoke and rain that accumulated.

All in all a very satisfactory holiday and a wonderful to our trip to Acadia! (We headed home the next morning, stopping in Portland ME for lunch and a short walk downtown.)

We started our morning with a visit to Bass Harbor Lighthouse, where the kids especially enjoyed scrambling on the granite ledges below. It was foggy so we got to see the light and hear the bells in action.

Next up was an easy walk on the Wonderland Trail to a cobblestone beach, followed by lunch in Southwest Harbor – lobster reubens, yum!

The afternoon highlight was a horse-drawn carriage ride along the carriage trails – a perfect way to see the park as it was originally conceived. The Rockefeller family still owns a large section of land adjacent to the park, but they allow the public to access their trails too. We saw several granite stone bridges designed by Rockefeller, still in great condition. Rowan especially enjoyed visiting with the horses who pulled our carriage, two silver Percherons.

The folks in Maine have devised a brilliant concept: the combination of a brewery and barbecue. We thoroughly enjoyed a beer tasting at the Atlantic Brewing Company, followed by a tasty protein-intensive meal at the co-located Mainely Meat BBQ!

We rounded out the evening with a walk downtown so the kids could see the bar out to Bar Island and sample the native ice cream again. The local community band provided light summer entertainment in the Village Green bandstand – classic New England town.

After a fabulous brunch at the 2 Cats restaurant (almond joy pancakes anyone!?), we rented bicycles and headed to the carriage trails for some lakeside cycling. Discovering that the tandem bicycle wouldn’t fit on the bicycle-express bus didn’t hold us back because Susannah raced to the starting point in time to meet the rest of the family without too much delay.

The cycling was incredible along the crushed stone carriage trails (the 57-mile network was built by the Rockefeller family), affording us views of multiple lakes, mountains, and forest, all without vehicular traffic. We paused mid-cycle to climb Connor’s Nubble, a smaller peak with a big view.

We ventured to a classic Maine lobster pound for dinner, complete with bibs, shell crackers, and picks. Rowan wasn’t sold but Ben did very well and even admitted to enjoying his first crustacean experience.

We capped off the day with a visit to the Great Maine Lumberjack show – hosted by “lumberjill” Timber Tina. Log rolling, pole climbing, chain saw sculptures – and the kids even got to try their hands at cross-cut sawing. What a hoot!