Road Trip

Travelling with both a veteran and relative novice like me, this was my first road trip. Lost most of the things on this site it’s something I’d never thought of doing before, my lone trek to Lands End was now a stop by stop road trip for 3. Unlike the abseiling, I’d been semi-dreading it all week but in the end it turned out way better than i'd ever expected. My driving can often lack finesse and I’m known to curse quite a bit when driving alone but I loved pretty much every minute of the driving and every minute of the trip itself. I’m starting to learn it’s not always the destination that matters, it’s everything else in between, that was definitely the case here.
First stop was the campsite in Braunton just outside Ilfracombe. I so wanted a go on the golf cart the guy at the site was using to direct us to our plot. Remind me to see if his job is available when I’m his age. It was close between that and the funky looking sidecar we saw on the way down as to which I’d want a go on first. If (like me) you don’t relish the thought of cold showers and crapping in a bucket then I can definitely recommend both the sites we stayed at.

First evening we spent munching fish and chips on Saunton beach, a cool little place we fell across which was our first view of the sea on the trip. Second day after my first night sleeping outside which wasn’t in a mate’s back garden it was onto Ilfracombe which is a great place for exploring rock pools and coastal walk but not so great if you’re a pidgeon where we saw one get nailed by a passing car just in front of us. Rest in peace little guy.

Driving out of Devon into Cornwall we headed to the surfers paradise of Newquay. The town itself is beautiful, not really my sort of place though. People go to Newquay for the beach and the surf, most of them are blokes of normal height, tanned, designer stubble, full of pecks and tragically they are all very nice for the ladies to look at. Sadly I tick none of those boxes so was more than happy to drive on when we eventually found the car by the crazy golf course and motorised scooter (note to self, add that to the list). I got a cream tea out of it all though so it wasn’t a complete waste. They say when in Rome do as Romans do, I was in Cornwall so was going to make damn sure I got my clotted cream tea. Pip got her Pastie the day after so we ticked all the culinary boxes. In the cafe we had lunch in, the girls met up with a fellow Kiwi who had settled over there and we also spoke to some guy who had worked around Reading. What a small world we live in!















Anna suggested stopping off at St Ives way back so we dropped in on the way. We were all pretty out of it with all the driving so quickly parked in a vets so we didn’t have to pay for parking then took our shots and left. A shame because the views were better than those at Ilfracombe, by this stage though we all wanted to get to the camp site. We could tell Lands End was getting closer, it really felt like you were leaving civilisation behind at times with some of the roads down there. Our site was in St Just, 5 miles out away from the end. It was just like the last site, everything just seemed to work perfectly. The atmosphere is so relaxed, you’re outside so there’s no feeling of claustrophobia like you get with some rooms. Even when you’re in your tent you know you can just go out for a stroll and no one will think anything of it.



Going back to what I said earlier, the journey down was much better than my intended destination turned out to be. Lands End that evening i.e. the bit people go and park in to see is merely a right place in the right time sort of location. It’s full of tacky kids attractions and gimmicks. People go just to say they’ve been to Lands End and seen the first and last house, post box, telephone box, pub, road sign, seagull, blade of grass and sneakiest photo op con yet. Remember the famous white sign with all the famous locations like John O Groates and New York? Fancy getting your picky taken with it? Think again! Not unless you’ve got a spare tenner handy and arrive before 6:00pm. If you are going down there I’d recommend taking a free photo and photoshoping this on it: -

For those of you who don’t know, Lands End is either the start or finish of the epic 874 mile journey between the two north and south points of Mainland UK so the pub in Lands end could in theory be the first and or last pub you’ll see on your journey depending on whether you start in England or Scotland. What saved Lands End was the short drive down the road to the Minack Theatre, a place so quirky and beautiful we visited it twice. That night we just sat and soaked in the scenery around the theatre, it truly is breath-taking, the three of us found our own little spot away from each other to experience it. No team photos or comedy shots, it seemed each of us wanted to experience it in our own way without any distractions with Anna going on the beach, Pip sitting on one of the rocks and me being me going exploring to find a nice awkward place to sit and experience as much as possible.
The following morning we went back to see the theatre itself. Cut out of the rocks and completely open to the elements, the Minack is a joy to behold. We went in just as the cast of one of the shows were practising a few of the songs, one of them something about a coffee from a copper coffee pot which I still can’t get out of my head. Everyone there and most people we’d seen so far were just so chilled out, a big and welcome change from Reading. Click here to see it live http://www.minack.com/theatregoers/stream.html it doesn’t do it justice though trust me. Try it mid July when they’ll be doing Midsummer Night’s Dream this year.













The rest of the day was a ‘get home as quick as poss so we’re not completely knackered for tomorrow whilst still looking for groovy places’ jobbie. We stopped off in Penzance to see all the Piratey stuff and to get Pip a Pastie, then after a few u turns made it to Plymouth for Lunch. By this stage sightseeing had pretty much gone out the window so all I can recommend is the Nando’s restaurant where there’s a gorgeous girl working at the cashier :) Through Exeter, M5 and 4 motorways home, stopping halfway through thanks to some moron who couldn’t control his speed. Not sure what happened but it must have been a big solo effort as the roof and front bumper of his car were knackered. 670 miles later I was feeling chuffed that i’d managed to find my way through town to get to Pips house without doing several U turns and that i’d done the whole thing. Bring on the next one :)


Rossifer x



P.s. Huge thanks to Hidden Valley Camp site@ Braunton and Trevaylor Park @ St Just for making my 1st and 2nd attempts at camping carefree and marvellous, the guy on the cool black sidecar, the guy in the white mini coach for almost running us off the road, the friendly van driver who put the pigeon out of its misery, the girl at the cashier of Nandos in Plymouth and of course my two camping buddies Pip the Itinerary queen and Anna the Snack & Music Goddess xXx.



















Go to the South West if only to experience:-
Ilfracombe – Deadly Deadly Chocolate, a great full English brekkie & Cider bottles with dicks on them.
Westward Ho! – The only place name in UK with an ! in it. FACT.
Newquay – Sand, surf, cream teas and annoying good looking guys for the ladies.
St Ives – Vets, Man with many wifes.
Lands End – First and Last time you’ll ever visit & Minack Theatre, the one reason you’ll ever go back.
Penzance – Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. The one town in England you can say that and get away with it & Pasties.
Plymouth – The Nando’s cashier. If she were a Nando's sauce you'd find her in the highly spicely hot section ;)