Hm, I think we may have messed up the map a bit. Oh well, we'll go with it.
Day Five: Charlestown, Mousehole, Bottalack's Tin Mines and St. Ives
Our first stop on Day 5 was to Charlestown. I think No. 10 is supposed to represent it on the map, but it's actually one bay to the East, before you get to Fowey. Oops.
This area has also been used as a frequent filming location for Poldark.
A few of my photos are reminiscent of Where's Waldo cartoons.
We met a few characters along the way. This gentleman gave us his dog's Facebook profile address before we parted ways.
Next we went to Mousehole (pronounced "Mouz-uhl") for lunch. A cornish pastie, for tradition's sake, and the best sparkling water I can remember having. I need to do some research on where to buy Folkington's in Texas.
Next! One of our absolute favorite stops. No. 11, the tin mines in Bottalack.
This view serves as the cover art for more than one edition of the Poldark books.
Back on the road, we got back to St. Ives, No. 12 on the map, in the late afternoon. There wasn't quite enough time to see the Tate St. Ives (connected to the Tate Modern in London) so we had to make do with shopping and browsing menus for a dinner spot.
Vacation is so taxing sometimes.
I fell short of my desired scone intake. Guess I'll need to go back.
Day Six: Tintagel Castle and Wells Cathedral
Packing up, we headed East, back toward London, stopping first at No. 13, Tintagel Castle.
On the walk out to the castle ruins, which were once the legendary home of King Arthur, built in the 12th century.
What goes down...
Trust us, it was quite a climb.
In the photo on the right, there are the foundation remains of the most ancient dwellings on this site, dating back to the Dark Ages.
Within the remains of a walled garden on the highest point, you can find a brief telling of the story of the lovers Tristan and Iseult.
King Arthur, is he fact or fiction?
Not having taken enough steps yet that day, I went down to the sea-level where there's a small waterfall.
And Merlin's Cave.
A nice, light English lunch.
No. 13.5, Wells Cathedral.
We sort of missed making a dot for Wells, so imagine there's a No. 13.5 just to the Southwest of Bath (No. 14.)
What I would call a quad, surrounding the cathedral. It was a popular spot for kids just out of school that afternoon.
The dates on this particular tomb caused both Mom and me to pause.
Wells Cathedral turned out to be my favorite of all we visited. Actually, my favorite would be to mix the facade of Salisbury Cathedral, with the interior of Wells Cathedral. But if I had to choose just one, Wells wins.
Back on the road for our final leg of the day, we ended up in Bath where we stayed at the Royal Crescent Hotel.
It gets it's name from being part of the Royal Crescent, a near semi-circle of historic residences. The hotel was recently renovated and spans both No. 16 and No. 17 of the original buildings.
The view of Bath out the back of the hotel.
Off to dinner.
Italian this time.
After dinner, we wandered around a bit. We found the Circus and peeked in a few real estate office windows to see what the going rate would be for one of these beauties.
(The kids can get scholarships, right?)
Back at the hotel, we stopped in the garden for a glass (or two) of wine.
And tried not to think about going back to our regular lives of work, housecleaning, eating the kids' leftover lunches as our meals and opening a week's worth of bills would feel like.
