Out you go

Today I woke to a very sympathetic Miss Vica telling me to get out of the tent into the wind and rain. Admitidly I can do nothing before going to the toilet in the morning but thats not reason to be forcefully evicted from the tent is it?

Todays venture was to the Eden project and its big biodomes of plants from around the globe. I went to the Eden project within months of it opening in 2001 but there was little more than shrubs but oh my gosh, it was amazing and even had gorse which we of course had our picture taken with. Here is another interesting fact, pineapples grow on a little plant instead of a tree!

After the Eden project we drove back to Bristol which ended our amazing trip of many 'firsts'. By the way, a warning to all, never ever go hiking with miss vica or if you do, take a doctor with you :)

Pricklies pricklies everywhere!!!!!

In advance I would like to state that this day had nothing to do with me, it was all Miss Vica's idea :)

This was our pre-history day which sounds wonderful so we went stone hunting in Zennor. We were assisted by a very nice man as to wear the rocks are and off we went walking around Zennor headland which was all very civilised passing nice hills of purple health and following the coastal path in sandles and skirt (one guess who was in a skirt).

The next stop was to Zennor Quoits which was up a wacking great big hill but miss vica want to go so we did, complete with OS map and water. Its started well on the road and then on a footpath, very nice until we had to go on a track, a track of pricklies which started quite small and grew to be bigger than my head. The pricklies were gorse and very very very prickly as we waded through them. Half way up we considered going back for trousers but neither of us relished the thought of going back so onward and upward. The pain was numbed before the top due to severe pain and Miss Vica being very allergic to them and her legs looking like they have been put int he fire. But we got to the top and looked around the stones. Then it was time to go back, 2 options - a footpath in a minefield or to go back the way we came so we headed to the minefield before the path stopped so it was back the way we came. Back through the pricklies that have caused us so much pain, back through the pricklies with a curious white spit on the top of them, back through the pricklies in a skirt and I fell in them hand first! YAY, pricklies in my hand!!!!!!!

We eventually got to the bottom through gritting our teeth but miss vica had to do the first lot of surgery on my hand to remove pricklies which entailed hacking at my hand with a knife and me wanting to pass out. This was the first of 3 operations on my hand involving penknife we use for cheese, pins and needles. I must really trust my forensic friend!

After such a fun time it was my turn to lead us and I lead us through a minefield again!!!!! But in the end we found what we were looking for - 9 maidens which were actually 11 but oh well. We also found an inscirbed stone in a cow field. By this time it was tipping down and how Miss Vica got my coat i really don't know but i wore the tent. Imagine this, ms keela in a waterproof tent, wearing a gambian skirt, cows walking towards her and then standing behind a standing stone hiding from them!!!!

But not pricklies on my trip!

Want a pillow?

The day started with yet another first, this first consisted of us using a campsite and leaving without paying!!!!!! Our excuse was that we didn't arrive until midnight and left at 9am and it was raining! It rained and rained and rained so we thought we would go to a mine. Geeor mine was a tine mine which has been turned into a tourist attraction where you get to put on a lab coat, ms keela gets to put on a yello hard hat, miss vica gets a red childs hat. For those who haven't had my very interesting fact - a pasty has a crust around the bottom, this is for the miners to hold the pasty, eat in innerd's and throw away the crust.

Our second stop was to the Pilchard museum, a severe hatred of mine to say the least. Another interesting fact - A pilchard is a big sardine!!!!! We visited St michaels mount but unfortunately we only had one hour to go over the causeway and back again so it was a quick trip then back up to St Ives to eat a cornish pasty and promenade along the beach.

Our evening campsite was a bit of a loonie convention. We pulled up when it was raining so decided to stay in the car for an hour and a half while watching our neighbours put up their tent.Imagine this - a guy in shorts and t-shirt, a wife in wellies, waterporoof coat and trousers. The tent was big enough to fit their van in and the guy wanted to peg in every peg perfectly even if it meant doing it a few times. All this while being over watched by waterproofed wifey who watched him and then brought out something really useful from the car - a pillow!!!!! By this time, miss vica and I could not breath let alone talk. I wonder if they noticed that we spent 1.5 hours sat in the car that was steamed up watching a hedge?????

Mango or Mat

Yet another gorgeous day, can this be england???? The first stop of the day was Tintagel castle, home to the legendary King Arthur. Built on a headland the castle has a fantastic view over the cornish coastline. After Tintagel we headed as south as we could get, to Lands End. I asked Miss Vica in advance what she thought Lands End would be like. A magical, mysterious place.....um, this soon changed to disney land when she saw it. I'm not a big fan of lands end with its tourist attractions barely related to lands end and more related to making money. We had to stand by the obligatory lands end sign post where we had the distance to Ilkley, that well known place but what I can tell you is that its 453 miles from Lands end :) Then it was time to get out of disneyland and take a wonder along the southwest coastal path to Sennen, a truly magical place of white sand and crystal blue sea but we didn't have chance to enjoy it, we had a date with the theatre.

The Minack Theatre is an ampitheatre set into a cliff (http://www.minack.com/). We thought that gettng there 2 hours before would be plenty of time but no, people were already queing for the best seats so while miss vica queued, I queued for reserve tickets and we were in luck. 2 tickets, £7 each fairly near the front to se 'summer holiday'. By this time miss vica was sick of her hair in her face but luckily we brough the trusty roll mat so we had the elastic from that which fitted Miss vica's head perfectly making her look like she should be in alice and wonderland. However, multimat was written on this wonderful accessory which meant that miss vica was either called Mat or Um (mango in Bangla i think). This I found very amusing :)

We left the theatre at 10.30 without a place to stay and without directions but after driving up what appeared to be a footpath rather than a road we found a campsite and put up the tent. Oh and cooked noodles (including the grass around the corner). There is nothing like having curry noodles at midnight. I will give you one guess whose idea that was :)

A couple more garden gnomes

The day started with a dip in the heated swimming pool and how simple it would have been if Miss Vica has a swimsuit but no :) Our first visit was to a garden gnome museum, home to over 1000 garden gnomes where you have to spend the time in the museum in your pointed gnome hat (a bright pink one). The place is bizarre and felt like you were hallucinating wondering through a menagery of little pointy hat people. The second part of the museum is a wild flower museum where we had to fill in a questionnaire en-route, I will let you know if we win. The fact that we made up over half of the answers may tell you that we didn't win.

Today was such a glorious day so we just had to go to a beach so Widemouth Beach fell victim to our presence. It would have been nice to have a deckchair, a windbreak, a beach mat or a towel but no, we had a roll mat. Suprisingly a roll mat can be shared by two people lying on it. The sea was so inviting and we had to be a part of it but one problem, where do we put the car keys???? In keela's hand of course while she is swimming in the sea but they have to be rolled in her skirt. So while Miss Vica was leaping over the waves like a pixie (which of course gets her more wet that swimming in the sea), keela had her hand permanently out of the water wrapped in an orange cloth. A nice thought until a large wave covers miss vica so of course i rush to help and what do i get???? SPAT ON!!!!! Honestly, truly, I was spat on :)

The night was spent in a campsite close to Tintagel in a campsite without tents, just us :) I thought Miss Vica was a bit keen when we saw the table tennis bats, little did i know she has played for years! We both learnt something important (apart from the fact that i can't play table tennis). I make a noise every time a ball comes near me and every time i miss it so you can imagine how many times i made a very high pitched, owl sounding noise (and no, miss vica hasn't recorded this sound and never will)

Take your Saucepan for a walk :)

Here starteth the next installement of my travels and miraculously the holiday was in my very own country, fair Britannia with the Hungarian ball of energy, Miss Vica. Saturday started very early with packing (of course, why do it earlier) and then we were on the road south to Devon. Our first stop was Dunster where the first of our rainbows were spotted, a theme that followed us throughout the whole trip. Dunster is famous for its castle and if it wasn't for the fact that it cost £7 to get in, we could tell you about it. Instead we went to the castle shop and looked at postcards of it (good travel tip).

One of the reasons for driving west was to go over exmoor for great views but nope, we visited when a blanket of fog covered the whole moor, we could barely see in front of the car! Our next stop was Lynmouth, a town devastated in the fifties by a flash flood so it has a special place in my heart. We travelled up the hill on the cliff railway powered by water (this was after much discussion that we should walk up, i will leave you to decide who was wanting to walk up!). At the top we saw a flock of bridesmaids and had a walk around before descending by the path this time. On the way, vica had a 'first' - a cream tea which went down very well. A cream tea consists of a fruit scone, clotted cream, strawberry jam and a pot of team. My cream tea was less than traditional (no fruit in scone yuk, no jam yuk, no tea yuk).

On the way to the campsite we stopped off at Ilfracombe, a tiny devon town with a beach where we paddled in the freezing cold water while stood next to a little boy who was running in and out of the water without a flinch. Our campsite was in Woolacombe on a very steep hill which is great for a view but not for camping with a girl who is half the size of you and who wishes to sleep downhill :) After dinner we decided to go for a walk, great idea i thought and we could wash up at the same time. At this point vica burst out laughing and i couldn't understand why, its seemed like a normal thing to me. Go for a wonder, wash up, wonder some more and then go home. Whats so funny???? Picture it, a bristolian and hungarian not being able to speak due to laughter, holding their stomachs from the pain and still none the wiser why the other is laughing. How was I to know Vica thought I meant we were going on a hike carrying a saucepan all the way!!! :)))