Travels with a Motorhome (and sometimes without): January 2016

Friday 15th January 2016
We have been having the worst wet weather in the UK for many years, and now that a cold snap has been forecast we decided to try going away for a week or two. A tour of Cornwall seemed just the thing, so we set off on a cold Friday, heading for Padstow ( via Exeter, where I had a small errand to perform). We arrived at Padstow Touring Park at about three thirty. We had passed through quite a bit of weather on the way down, including sleet and hail, but now the weather was calm, and we set up the van on our alloted space with all due speed. The sun was going, and the temperature was dropping - a clear night was forecast.

With the heater on, and the blinds drawn, all was cosy as we settled down to our dinner of pulled pork, new potatoes and broccoli. I had brought some things on disc to watch, so we finished the evening viewing an Agatha Christie mystery - neither of us could remember the ending - despite having seen it before, and reading the book!

Saturday 16th January 2016
We awoke to a bright day, and so decided to try the mile track across fields down to Padstow. We had been warned that it would be a bit muddy, so we dressed appropriately - I even had my gaiters on over my walking boots! We set off, and it was very muddy indeed - but we persevered. Almost at the end of the trail - then we came across standing water that was about a foot deep - if only we had been wearing wellies! But we weren't - and so had to turn back (the track was bounded by barbed wire fences on both sides, and there was no way round).

View towards the Camel Estuary

The nature of the track


Lots of lying water

Returning to the site via the road we sat in the sun and had lunch - yes, the sun was out, and it was warm. We were joined by a black and white cat who was very friendly, and ate anything that you gave him.

Sitting outside until the sun began to sink, and the clouds came over was very nice, and unusual for mid-January. Very enjoyable. After a while we retired into the van and settled down with the heater on again - it was drizzling outside and the temperature was dropping. Later that evening the clouds went and it was a clear and cold night. We ate pasta bolognaise with peas, and had enough left over for lunch the following day. This was our last evening in Padstow. We had decided to move down to a site I had found in St. Ives next.

Sunday 17th January 2016
No rush to get off site - so we had a leisurely start to the day and had packed up by ten thirty, ready to go. K even had time to press some patchwork hexagons that she had been sewing - as is her want. We emptied the tanks, and made our way down to Padstow town - having failed the previous day. The weather was cloudy and threatening rain as we found a parking space in the Railway car park. I claimed one of the two reserved Motorhome parking places, then realised that we had no money at all to pay for parking. It would only be a pound - but we had no change! No shops nearby. Then I noticed the sign saying 'No change? Pay easily with Ring Go!' OK thought I - I'll give it a go. How hard could it be? Long story short - fifteen minutes later, having failed by just ringing, I had downloaded and installed an app for my phone and used that to pay for the parking - four hours for £1.40 - I suppose the extra was the administrative fee. As this service purports to have over five million users, they must be raking it in!

We wandered into Padstow, and were immediately hit by how much of it seems to be owned by Rick Stein! His was the first take away, restaurant, deli and 'Seafood School' that we came across - and that was before even leaving the car park!! Back in 2009, it seems that an article in the Telegraph had the same idea. I think that he owns even more now. The fish and chip restaurant had a 'winter special' offer, so we thought that we would avail ourselves of that on the way back. Padstow seemed the typical modern Cornish seaside village - full of galleries, art shops, clothes shops and eating establishments. K found time to go shopping, and we added a new jumper and dress from 'White Stuff' to the van's contents.

We walked through the town, and then up over the headland towards the beach, which gave some greats views over the estuary, towards the sea, and Rock on the opposite side. A regular ferry crosses the river to Rock.

I think that Padstow must win the 'Most Benches Seen in One Place' award - if such a thing exists. There they were, all regimented and looking out across the river, fading into the distance - so many!

On the way back to the van we had our fish, chips and a cup of tea. Very nice they were too. Being cooked in beef dripping surely had a bearing on the taste? Yum.

Back in the van, and off to St. Ives taking the pretty coastal route. Which, as it turns out wasn't that great as it isn't near the coast in most places, is very twisty turny and bounded by high hedges. We got back on to the A30 close to Newquay for the rest of the journey, arriving at Ayr Holiday Park, St. Ives, at about three forty five. We were given our hardstanding pitch, which was fully serviced, and parked up for the first of our four nights there. The toilet block was explored, and found to be ultra-modern, with heated floors and lots of glass and chrome. We even found one bit with a bath - much to K's delight.

All parked up, and avoiding the muddy grass


Porthmeor Beach - Ten minutes down the hill

The light was going, and the rain had started, so we cosied down in the van for the night. We ate the pasta from the previous evening - seeing as we had a large fish and chip lunch. That night we had a big storm, with much rain lashing at the van and great winds making us rock to and fro. We had a restless night. It was hard to get to sleep, and we kept being woken by the noise and movement. As a result of this, we determined to have a quiet time the next day.

Monday 18th January 2016
As a result of the previous nights lack of sleep we slept in - being quite tired, and so didn't even surface until about eleven o'clock - and even then this was mainly because workers with a tractor were moving a large static caravan just a short distance away. After a very late breakfast we basically just sat about, K watching an episode of 'Poldark' on her tablet, whilst I messed about with the computer. I determined last night that this site has free wifi, and so have used it to update this blog. As I write this, K is off luxuriating in the bath, whilst I look out of the window watching a lone person walking along the beach as the clouds gather around the dimming sun. It's staying light longer now though, as it's nearly four fifty and it's not dark yet. We have decided that tomorrow we will have an earlier start and go down to explore St. Ives.

Horse in the next field interested in how we parked the van

Tuesday 19th January 2016
Much better night's sleep, meaning that I was wide awake at six thirty! Too early to get up, so I carried on listening to 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth' read by Tim Curry. It's unabridged, so will take a while. I missed a bit because I must have dropped off again, but was awake and up at eight thirty. We were breakfasted and out by ten.

We walked down the hill and past Portmeor Beach and the Tate St. Ives, which is close for refurbishment until April 21st. The weather wasn't too cold, and it wasn't raining.

Yes, there is a person surfing in the sea

On into the town, and an amazing lack of people - mind you, a lot of places are closed for winter. We had a good wander around, and found the correct place to catch the bus from tomorrow, when we plan to visit Hayle. A bit later we ended up at the Lifeboat Inn for lunch about one o'clock. It was the promise of a real log fire that drew us in, it was there, roaring away, but as it turned out we sat by the window and watched the sea. I had a barbequed chicken burger and a pot of tea, K had grilled mackerel with a grain mustard crust and a 'Rattler' Berry cider. Went down very well. The staff were very nice, and the food was good.

We walked to a local bakery and got a small loaf for me, then we walked around to the 'Island' and had a look at the church. Whilst we were in the pub we saw the lifeboat launch - now we saw it towing a boat back to harbour. The weather was pleasant, with the sun trying to break through.

A short detour up the coastal path towards Zennor meant that we saw a few things that we hadn't before, despite visiting St. Ives many times.

Making our way back to camp, the time was getting on for four o'clock. We went back up the hill more slowly than we came down it. Back at the site I decided to have a nice hot bath - because I could. We intend having a salad for the evening meal - lunch was quite large. We plan to go off to Hayle on the bus tomorrow.

Friday 11th September
We were up and breakfasted by eight thirty, waiting outside the hotel for a pick up by Percy by nine. Maria appeared, walking up the hill to the hotel, and a few minutes later the car drove down the hill to meet us - pausing only briefly on the one-way street to let us alight. The destination was to be the Sacred Valley - and some of the ancient sites to be seen along it. We were off to the first of quite a few sights scheduled for today - Pisac.

On the way we stopped off at at Awana Kancha, which is a type of cooperative not far from Cusco. Here they keep various types of Llama and Alpaca - and a few Vicuna as well. They spin and dye the fleeces from these animals, and make various things, ranging from garments to pictures.

You could feed the animals - one reminded me that he was basically a camel when he had a go at spitting - don't know what I did to offend him. Luckily he missed. We had to buy something from the shop there, and so ended up with a very lovely spread for our bed at home. The handiwork was amazing - especially as the ladies seemed to work without any visible patterns - they just did things from memory.

From there we carried on to the village of Pisac, and the Inca ruins beyond. It was a long and tortuous road that led us to the ruins outside the village itself, but worth the trek.

From there we ventured back down to the village itself, to have a look at the colourful market. You can see from the car park that the ruins were popular. Roadside merchants here were trying to sell various goods. In the village we spotted a small guinea pig house outside a restaurant - we didn't know if they were there as a food item!

We continued along the Sacred Valley. We were heading for a lunch stop, but as we seemed to be driving right past where Yanette (the mother of our daughter's friend) lived in Calca, it seemed only fair that we stopped there for a little while to say hello and to look at her home.

After that we stopped for lunch close to the town of Urubamba, at a nice roadside restaurant which did a buffet lunch. We paused for about an hour, before continuing on our journey. There were Macaws wild in the gardens - very nice to see.

They next stop on our trip was Ollantaytambo - which is the remains of an Inca citadel. It was at the head of a valley with the town spread out before it. I was also amazingly windy! We climbed to the top - which, given the altitude, was no mean feat!

The 'buildings' on the sides of the mountains are granaries, where the Incas winnowed and stored their grain. It was easy to imagine that this citadel must have been pretty impregnable when it was originally built - it's still very impressive today!

Now we were quite worn out from a busy day we made our way back down the hill to the village itself to find Percy in the car. He was going to drop us off at the railway station so that we could catch our train to Aguas Calientes that evening, ready for our trip to Machu Picchu the next day. We arrived at the station in good time. In fact we had to wait for an hour and a half for the train to arrive. We said goodbye to Maria and Percy for the time being and sought sustenance of some type. K managed to find a seat in the buffet lounge area, whilst I wandered around (having bought us both some tea). We boarded the train after a while and set off at about six thirty for the hour and a half trip.

The train was clean and comfortable, with liveried staff and a drinks and snacks trolley which provided us with a coffee and a Peruvian grain bar - served in a curious paper wrapper. We arrived in Aguas Calientes at just gone eight o'clock to find that the train seemed to have stopped in the high street - right outside several restaurants! We joined the throng of people leaving the train onto the crowded street and looked for Ruth - who was to be our guide for the trip here. I spotted a lady holding a card with our name in the crowd and hailed her - she took us up the hill, through the empty market, and across the river to the hotel that I had previously booked - the Terrazas del Inca. We would be there for two nights.