Wales, Cornwall and Somerset: Leaving England

On April 25th we flew from Exeter airport to Amsterdam, and so ended our trip to England.  It has been a very good and memorable one.  Somehow we did as the song suggested and took the weather with us, wherever we went.  So, not quite Australian weather but certainly comfortable and rainless skies followed us around.


The weeks leading up to our April 25 flight were filled with visits to friends, relaxing, touring and sight-seeing.  We were honoured to have caught up with Daphne and Tommy in Port Talbot near Swansea, where Daphne treated us appropriately like Lord and Lady Muck, feeding us and driving us around.  I enjoyed at Swansea Markets an old childhood memory taste treat in the form of cockles.  Lots of them available by the shovel full and straight from market to mouth was a joy (not so thinks my travelling companion).  An interesting variation on this is cockles and laverbread (a local Welsh delicacy) which I had for breakfast - is tasty and unusual but to be had in small quantities for my taste. 

Drives up in the hills were lovely, overlooking the famous coal-mining valleys of old.

From Wales we drove to St Buryan, Cornwall via Broadwell, Gloucester, Trull, Okehampton.  A long day driving but one that took us for a precious couple of hours to see Alicia Waitt (Broomfield) in Broadwell and her three lovely little boys.  Poor little Oscar was a bit sick and sleepy :(

Gloucester was an efficient visit to ancient town centre, cathedral and a cute Beatrix Potter shop and museum at the site of the famous Tailor of Gloucester and all his helpful mice.

St Buryan, way out west in Cornwall beyond Penzance, was a lovely farm-stay for three nights.  Got to wander around some ancient stone circles, dodge our way down the craziest of narrow hedgerow-lined lanes, eat Cornish pasties and clotted cream (not together), and see charming fishing villages on our touring days.

Was wonderful to see Alan and Valerie again and enjoyed our cup of tea with them and talked and talked and saw old photographs of Cornwall days.  Port Isaac was fun to stop at on way back to our final days in Taunton.  Enjoyed hospitality of Julie and Paul, went to a classical choral concert at St James church, some last catching up with several friends.


Finally with relief returning the hire car without dent but arguably not without Cornish/Somerset hedgerow scratches and the plane leaves with us on it and we bid farewell once again to my homeland.