Our pitch here at Trevedra backs onto a stone wall and looks over open countryside, with a view of Cape Cornwall and the ocean to our left and Lands End airport straight ahead., and being elevated from the field behind we're not overlooked at all.
This has given us the opportunity of not closing the blinds in the bedroom overnight. It's late enough in the summer for it to stay dark until a reasonable time, and with my bladder usually screaming at me by 6am, I'm awake to watch the sun rise from my pillow.
With a load of washing put in the machine I head on over to Sennen with the dogs, firstly to take in the view on a fine morning, looking up towards Cape Cornwall while the dogs sort themselves out.
I also have a new toy to try out. For my recent birthday I was lucky enough for Herself and the boys to get me a drone. I was chuffed, and happy that they can read my thoughts and get me something that I really wanted. Mind you, me choodsing it and leaving it in Herself's Amazon shopping cart may have been a deciding factor!
Anyway, I've not had time to have a proper go until now, and it's been too windy, but this morning seemed like an ideal opportunity to give it a whirl.
Back on site I take time to admire our new doggy prison, and peg out all the points that I missed in the rapidly fading light last night.
I never learn, or at least I'm too lazy to do anything about it sometimes. Regular readers may recall the numerous times that I've got a soaking trying to put the hose back onto the aquaroll after using it to fill the flush (without first turning it off at the tap). That would involve walking to the tap twice, and given our tap is behind Mr Funny Git's van, it's a little awkward.
It's got beyond funny now for Herself to see me coming round the corner ringing wet, and we need a solution. We did a tour of all the likely suspects in Penzance, before I source an in line tap at Jim's.
A chilled afternoon is had, and we have an early tea of Tandoori Salmon off the Weber with some king prawn rice before heading off out for the evening.
We park up near Newlyn and walk the promenade towards Penzance and passed the Jubilee pool just at the Scillonian is returning from the isles.
We take a table outside The Dolphin just as it docks and watch as passengers disembark. None of them have a green tinge about them, so we can only assume that the crossing on the "Vomit Comet" was a pleasant one.
I'm sat there trying to enjoy my Korev and Herself can tall I'm bothered by something as I keep looking over her shoulder. I fully appreciate that this blog, when published, will be full of typos with a few spelling mistakes, but I'll blame autcorrect and a yank spell checker for that. But this is a handwritten sign, that has been there for some time - uncorrected.
We walk back to Toyah and are not ready to go back to the van yet, so her nose gets pointed in the direction of St Just and Cape Cornwall, where we arrive in the last of the day light.
What a beautiful place.
Back on site we brace ourselves for what's to come, and with a few massive bangs at 9.55pm "Magic in the Skies" kicks off at lands End. They look spectacular, but the wind must be blowing in the right direction tonight, as it's like being pitched in down town Beirut.
Wednesday 28 August
No sun rise through the bedroom window this morning, just low cloud over the fields and I can't even see the flood lights of the airport through the gloom. 6.20am and I lose my nerve in game of dare with my bladder and get up for a pee. After shaking the drips I go back into the bedroom to see that my space on the bed had now been taken over by squatters in the shape of Gwawr and Gwen, who are cwtching up to Herself lovely!
I light a flame under the kettle, fire up the fan heater in the awning and take a seat by the newly cleaned plastic windows and watch as it gets slightly less gloomy outside. I'm 3 mugs of builders' into my morning before Herself surfaces, having been woken by a few drops of water from the skylight over the bed (a change in wind direction blowing wet stuff under the gap).
By now I've been up over 4 hours and breakfast is well over due. I'm afraid to say that her simple and well meaning asking if I wanted a cup of tea was met with an altogether inappropriate response, and for that I am sorry, but still, at least there was no further delay in the poached eggs arriving in front of me!
The morning had passed by, alternating between persistent drizzle and heavy showers, there seemed to be no reprieve, no matter what @DerekTheWeather and his west country cousin say in their work of fiction, so Herself spruces herself up, I put on some clean pants, and armed with bags for life we head on over to Asda in Hayle to pick up some odds and ends.
It has stopped raining by the time we get there, but still with a thick covering of cloud we pick up a mini trolley safe in the knowledge that the dogs will be OK in the car. The two of us going in to do a shop in the summer is a rare occurrence I tell you.
Typical though, were wern't in there long, and by the time we come out we have hints of blue skies. I get a "I told you so." but let it ride as we make amends by walking them along the quayside before making tracks to St Ives and then along the stunning B3306 that hugs the coast through Zennor towards St Just. We're drinking in the views, as this is the first time we've driven this road in quite a few years when it hasn't been shrouded in mizzle!
At a very opportune time the Gunards Head appears like a mirage, my suggestion of stopping for a pint in their very nice beer garden is accepted, and with a sharp right we are spraying mud and gravel in their car park and clipping the dogs onto their extenders. Herself takes a table and holds onto the three of them for all she's worth while I go in and buy the most expensive pint of Cornish lager and G&T of the trip so far.
My lager, not Korev I might add, was rank but Herself is rather taken with the Cornish gin, and we are now on the lookout for a retailer of Tarquin. There is a stiff cool breeze, but enough warmth from the sun to enable us to sit and drink in the views of the open countryside - ignoring the rather scruffy farm yard immediately to our left!
Back on site the Weber is pressed into service once more to cremate a few slices of rump for tea. We chill for an hour or so before putting on a few layers to head off out for the evening. The sun may be out but there's a cool breeze on site, and from experience we know it'll be a damn sight worse where we are heading.
Pulling into the car park at Lands End it's immediately evident how much wet stuff fell from the sky overnight and this morning, as the potholed car park resembles a lake. You think with the money they take in just car parking fees here they'd be able to sort out a decent surface!
We know exactly where we want to be, and time is of the essence. We have competition too as approx 10 other cars parked up at the same time as us and they're all here from the same reason.
We pick up the pace and grab the last remaining table on the terrace with an uninterrupted vista. I go inside to get some drinks and we settle down to watch the sun set behind the Isles of Scilly.
It was magical, and I don't think there is a better place in the UK to do it, but it didn't half go cold just after the sun dipped into the Atlantic.
With the spectacle over we make tracks back to the field at Sennen where, while the dogs chase a ball to tire them out before bedtime, Herself and I share a bag of chips from 190 Degrees West. They smell divine, but I must say after our grease free diet over the last few months we didn't really enjoy them. Still it's an itch that had to be scratched.
Back on site our fairy light enclosure guides us home, after a day that started out so gloomy into a rather enjoyable one.
Thursday 29 August
A cuppa in bed this morning enjoying the view from the fixed bed. We are really liking the layout of this van the more we use it.
A syn free cooked breakfast gets the day off to a good start before the loungers are dragged out so that we can soak up some vitamin D. Herself loses herself in a word search book for a few hours while I click the lounger back a few notches and embark on some serious personal contemplation time.
Herself has taken quite a fancy to a Cornish gin (Tarquin) down here which is distilled near Padstow. Not wanting to haul ourselves all the way up there, she gets on the blower to them and gets a list of stockists down here in the far west.
Early afternoon, and the dogs are getting edgy. We have a quick scrub up and head off out. First stop is the Polgoon Vineyard near Penzance, where some folding is exchanged for a rather neat blue bottle.
Next stop is Porthleven. It's market day here on the harbour, not a normal market, but a craft market, so the place is busy with parking spots at a premium. After just 2 circuits of the car park we strike lucky, and I block the road to stop any other git from attempting to jump into the space as soon as the elderly couple vacate it. They're old, and it takes them quite a while to get in and buckled up. I turn off my hearing aids so as not to hear the bloke leaning on his horn behind me.
With the dogs clipped on we head straight for The Harbour Inn. We are getting some attention though, and Herself is not happy. People are stopping us to comment on my tee shirt and ask where I got it. I am told in no uncertain terms that I am not allowed to wear it again.
We enjoy a drink at on of their quayside tables, watching the world go by and seagulls attacking people's plates (while they are still eating). Despite the warm sunshine the breeze is cool. Herself is making a big issue of it so I offer to swap places so she can have the full benefit of the sun on her back.
With drinks guzzled we make our way past the Craft market, Herself briefly browses a few jewellery stalls but comes away saying that she'll wait until I'm feeling generous enough to get her some more Clogau. I'm not stupid, and know she's been Googling stockists down her, so will wait for the sting.
Down the other side of the harbour we take an outside table at the Ship Inn. It is very busy here, not the pub but the quay side. Throngs of wetsuit clad kids are tomb stoning off the side, some a bit more daring than other leaping off the really high walls and others somersaulting into the drink.
In among them is a middle aged Dad, trying to be cool with the kids, he looks the part in his all season wet suit, but is making himself look like a right pansy by holding his nose (like a little girl) as he jumps in from the lowest wall.
On my way into the pub I'm tickled by a parking sign. Bear in mind that here we are some 264 miles from home, and 200 miles from the nearest town in Wales.
It's a lovely spot her at the harbour entrance, and Tali is engrossed with the goings on, but even he was giving the pansy quizzical looks.
Back on site tea is ready and waiting. before we left I'd chucked the ingredients for a lamb and mushroom saag into our multi cooker, and it had been festering away all afternoon. Some precooked basmalti rice takes 2 mins to microwave, and we're sitting down at the table within 10 mins of pulling up.
Magic in the Skies was noisy again tonight. They obviously bought their fireworks from Lidl this year.
Friday 30 August
We've had a day of doing nothing today, absolutely nothing. Well that was the intention anyway. After breakfast and walking the dogs we decide to give the van and awning a bit of a spruce up.
with that done we make the 30 mile dash up to Penrose Touring to procure a short length of awning skirt to complete our doggy prison, and then call into Morrisons on the way back to site for provisions, returning to site at a little after lunch.
While Herself puts away the shopping I get to work on securing our enclosure in readiness for our visitors later tonight.
After all this was done, then it was time to do nothing, and we even went to bed for a guilty nap!
Early evening and we get a message from Ronnie to say they have left and are on their way, just as we are heading out for the evening. Not far, just down to the cove for an evening stroll. We park up near the harbour and walk along the front watching the foaming surf crash in over the rocks.
We get as far as The Old Success where the lure of an empty table proves all too much, and we take a sharp right.
We've not sat down long at the table when a young girl sits down next to us, then her sister joins her, then her kids sit down next to Herself. Their significant others hover over us in an attempt to bully us off the table. I've never experienced anything like it in my life, and one of the girls starts shuffling her arse backwards in an attempt to push me further along the seat.
It didn't work. I'm a retired prop forward, so am in my element. They say that a career in the front row educates you in the dark arts, well I used every trick in the book, and within 5 mins of them starting their antics I once again have loads of elbow room.
Herself and her side of the table are then under attack. Herself is a little more subtle than me and starts to whisper her "trigger word" for the dogs, who right on cue, start to growl a little.
"Ooh, not very friendly are they?"
"No, they're not."
The fact that they'd never hurt a fly is neither here nor there, JOB DONE.
The boy friends then start trying filthly looks tactics. Little do they know that they are dealing with someone who is a black belt in giving filthly looks, and they soon back off on that score too. Bloody amateurs!!
We were only going to stop for the one, but after the challenge was set it was decided that we would stay for a little longer. I was Des, so nursed a pint of Korev, but Herself enjoyed a few more Tarquin's and Fevertree while we talked in Wenglish about our new friends.
Back at the van we got our heads down for a few hours, as we know we'll be disturbed in the night.
Until Part 3 .........
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