June 5, 2016 Cornish excursion

June 5, 2016 Cornish Excursion

I remember mum telling me about the little English roads, with homes right up to the roadside, and how beautiful the countryside is. Once again, mum was right on the money.
Thanks mum for sharing so many of your wonderful travel stories, and giving us to opportunity to see for ourselves the absolute beauty of this Country.

Last nights welcome dinner was held a a beautiful old pub the Rose and Crown 8 miles from where our hotel was in Plymouth. It sure didn't take long to sound like we were at an Aussie barbie, a drink or two, and everyone was in great form. We had a nice meal, and met more of our tour "family" before heading to our hotel to settle in. Liz advised us to,head to the bottle shop/supermarket for supplies before it closed at 8pm.. You know how they say the poms drink warm beer, apparently that's pretty true, as the beer and wine was kept on the shelf! A friendly shop assistant offered us a "large" bag of ice, hmmmm nothing too large about a bag with about 20 ice cubes in it. No chance to pop our bevvies in our room fridge, I think the guests before us pinched it! Oh well down to the hotel bar for a night cap while our drink chilled in the bathroom basin.
There lies another story. Another round of friends and drinks and laughs, before hitting the hay in our room.
We both slept till about 5.40, getting the hang of this time zone maybe!
Breakfast in the dining room after an early morning walk on a lovely sunny Sunday morning before Steve drove us to the Mayflower Steps and the Royal Citadel, where we boarded a cruise boat to Cradon in Cornwall shire. Cornwall has a population of 500,000 but tourists eat their way through 5 million pasties a year. Passed the town where Mick Fleetwood was born in Redruth. Wazza is doing a great job of taking the notes for me once again, if spelling is incorrect blame him!
5/1/1842 the worlds first lift operated by a water wheel, 1794 gas lighting was invented and copper mining began in 1700. We also saw a large obelisk to honour the Duke of Wellington and the battle of Waterloo. The scenery has been so diverse, parts were very familiar to the Dandenongs Nola Stokes... Sensational rhododendrons  .
Stone wall fences, hedge
A real feast for the eyes today.
We stopped for photos at Saint Michaels Mount before our lunch stop at the very pretty seaside town of St Ives. It was crazy busy with seagulls the size of a Doberman ready to steal your Cornish Pasty from your hands. And they were quite aggressive. We wandered around after we got Warrens pasty from Warren bakery (the oldest bakery ..) and fell upon the Sloop Inn established 1312, had a drink in the gorgeous sunshine and watched the world go by before hopping back on the bus for the 2 hour drive back to Plymouth.
There is an optional dinner tonight, but we have declined, instead we will wander back down to town for a walk and a light dinner.