DAY 31/32

Thursday/Friday June 23^rd/24th  2016    

                                                           

Thursday, Feock to Falmout h (again)                                         Miles 45

These two days would be very significant in that today was the day in which Britain would vote in the referendum on whether to remain in or leave the EU.

Having had one day’s R&R with Pete & Sue in Feock, today was more significant to me than the referendum as it was the day that Marilyn came to join me, after 30 days being apart.  I met her from the train at lunchtime at Truro station.  After a nice lunch with our, we hosts decided to go out for the afternoon and return to Falmouth, which I felt I had hurried through too quickly on Tuesday.  Tomorrow, Friday Pete & Sue planned to take us on a tour of the Roseland Peninsula, which would in essence “knock off” 50 miles of what I would need to do.

Before I get into the coastal journey, I do have to mention toilets once again!  In this case the toilets at Truro Station and make praise of them and the man who keeps them clean.   I had about 10 minutes to wait for Marilyn’s train to arrive so I asked at the ticket barrier if there was a loo I could use.  The young women said there was one on the platform, the other side of the barrier, but I could use it as long as I made sure I was back before the train arrived, as I did not have a ticket to be on the platform.  She could easily have said no, but she trusted my word and I think showed a great customer attitude.

As some of you have already noted I have made a number of observations on the availability and cost of using toilets throughout Britain.  There seems to be a tendency to now charge for their usage, which I think goes against the spirit of being hospitable to the visitors you want to attract. Or, to not have any public toilets at all (such as in Asda, Aldi, Lidl, Co-op and Morrisons) which clearly is the polar opposite of trying to portray yourself as customer orientated.  There are those communities, such as Applecross, that have wonderfully clean establishments and politely ask for a donation.  There is Perranporth, which is very forward looking and provide unisex loos.  There was the toilet in the Old Chapel Café in Port Isaac that had “twinned” with and supported the provision of a public toilet in India.  But the most immaculately clean and free public toilets I have found on the whole of my journey must definitely be the loos on Truro station.  At least the gentleman’s toilets, but I am sure the same will hold true for the ladies.  As I walked in it smelt very fresh, the sinks, urinals and every piece of porcelain in the building was sparkling and shiny.  There was “blue” flush cleaner in evidence everywhere.  The floors were dry and immaculate and I saw no graffiti. 

As I passed through the ticket gate I said to the young women at the gate to please pass on my congratulations to the person who cleaned the toilets.  A few minutes later I heard her say to a man “You have had someone praise you on the state of the toilets.”  Clearly this was the man responsible, so I went up to him and personally thanked him.  I think he was a bit taken aback as I am sure that he does one of those jobs that people take for granted; but it was good to pass on personally my appreciation.  I think if everyone gave praise where it’s due, especially for those jobs that not everyone wants to do, then they will be encouraged and keep on providing the service that we all want to have.  Praise where it is due probably has more impact on job performance than tipping.

Anyway back to the coast!  Leaving Feock to drive to Falmouth, you pass a sign for the delightfully named village of “Come To Good”.  It is very small, just a hamlet and nobody quite knows how it got its name.  Some think it is a derivation of “the Coombe by the dwelling in the Wood”, whereas others suggest it is called this because of the Quakers whose Friends Meeting House is in the village.  Wherever it comes from I think it is a wonderful name for a community and must generate a lot of conversations when an inhabitant has to give their address.

 

Bringing Home the Fish

Before you get to Falmouth you pass through the small town of Penryn, which is almost fully joined up to Falmouth.  You can park and take a water taxi from here (or a bus if you don’t like water) directly into Falmouth Quay.  I saw nothing in Penryn that would cause you to want to make a special point of visiting it, but I am sure the car park and ferry generates local income from tourists.

 

Falmouth Harbour & Ferry to Penryn

Falmouth itself is noted for sailing and there are a lot of yachts in the harbour.  There is also a luxury ship building yard, owned by entrepreneur Peter de Savery, who at one time had plans for expanding the whole of the waterfront in Falmouth and smartening it up.  I don’t know whether he changed his mine, or ran out of money, or the town council blocked the plans, but it clearly did not happen.  The town around the harbour, though not unpleasant is not particularly attractive and the shops are not ones that you would go out of your way to visit, mainly aimed at loosening the wallets of tourists.  Further out of town on the cliff road, which follows on from the route around Castle Drive and looking south, are some very smart homes and hotels.  Indeed one of them, the St. Michael’s Hotel used to be owned by friends of ours.  Following a family tragedy and then a later fire, I believe that the hotel was sold.  In the hotel grounds are now being built luxury apartments with pool and access to the spa.  This will be a superb place to live, if you can afford it, once completed.

Falmouth has always been noted as a place for an education in Art.  Recently the famous Dartington Hall arts establishment, in Devon, has closed its doors and the Art College has now moved to Falmouth

 

St. Mawes Lighthouse from Pendennis Castle

We left Falmouth and continued along the beach road around to Maenporth.  Here there is a good surfing beach and also an apartment complex, which has in its base an excellent restaurant having wonderful views from its patio across to the beach. 

This completed the coastal places that I had too quickly passed through on Tuesday, so we set off back to our hosts.  As we set off, on a steep and very narrow lane, we met two tractors coming towards us, both with wide equipment attached to the front which we assumed was cabbage harvesting equipment, as they looked like large colanders turned upside down, no doubt to collect and cut the head of the cabbage.  You would need to be very exact in planting and spacing the young cabbage plants if you want to later pick them mechanically with this equipment.  Needless to say we and the other four vehicles behind me all had to back up, quite some distance, to let them pass.  I’m sure some farmers get great pleasure in having to inconvenience the “grockles” who invade their roads.

On this evening Pete & Sue had to go out for a prior commitment, so Marilyn and I took a bottle of wine and some cheese down to the beach after supper; a treat that you cannot do in Vancouver.  Pete stayed up through the night to listen to the results of the referendum on whether or not Britain should leave the EU!

Friday:  Feock to St. Austell                                                                Miles 50

Today we woke up to the news that the referendum vote had come down in favour of leaving the EU.  The vote was 52% voting to leave, 48% voting to remain.  Though this is a 4% difference, the number of people who turned the majority was actually only 2.7% of those who voted.  To me this was too narrow a margin to impact such a significant outcome.  In a General Election it is a “first past the post” winner.  However in a General Election you only have to live with the consequences for a maximum of 5 years, in this case the outcome is final and there is no going back.

Having seen hundreds of “Leave” posters around the UK and only 6 (yes 6) posters saying “Remain” I had a suspicion that the Leave camp would win this, especially as the polls were giving it as a very slight win to the Remain camp.  Recent experience both here and in Canada would suggest that people polled will either not be honest with their answers, or, deliberately hope to send a protest message to “frighten” one side or the other.  Either way (and it could be that the pollsters actually don’t get their samples right), my straw poll, based on posters seen and asking my B&B hosts which way they intended to vote, continued to indicate to me that Leave might win.

Having lived outside of the UK for longer than 15 years (although still spending a lot of weeks every year in the UK) I was unable to vote in the referendum.  I remain though strongly British and this is partly the reason why I have been doing my coastal trip.  If I had voted I would have voted to remain.  There are lots of reasons for this, some were thought through and I believe very rational, some just emotional.  No matter my view there will always be the very real issue that “uncertainty” is something that markets don’t like and in uncertain times, markets will go down, which means the economy will weaken, which impacts everyone. A weak economy leads to opportunities for other countries to take advantage of the situation and compromises are then made that will have long term consequences.

The campaign, run by both sides, contained lots of “fear mongering” and down right inaccuracies.  At the end of the day I think people voted based purely on gut feel and emotion and very few people really understood the implications of what they were being asked to vote for.  Probably this is true in most elections, but the swing either way is not usually driven by facts but by emotion, often based on very tenuous facts, or “remembered hurts”.   Indeed part of the folklore in Britain is that if anything is not right then it must be the fault of the bureaucrats in Brussels.

David Cameron has to take a lot of the blame for the outcome of the vote.  He boldly claimed that he was going to get a better deal for Britain from Europe and I think he thought that he would be like Margaret Thatcher in this respect.  He rashly threatened the EU that if Britain did not get what it wanted it would hold a referendum that might result in Britain leaving.  The EU was somewhat between a rock and a hard place.  If it gave in to Britain’s demands then it would face pressure from the other member states to also gain concessions.  If it allowed Britain to have a referendum and Britain were to vote to leave, then other member states, such as France and Holland would also likely have to bow to internal political pressures and similarly hold votes on leaving.  This could then see the end of the EU.  The EU gambled on Britain voting to stay in; Cameron also gambled on the same outcome.  Both sides lost.  The result is now political instability and a lack of direction as no one can fully predict where this all might lead.  What is certain is that Europe wont be coming back to say, “OK, we’ll give in after all, please stay.”  There will be a lot of EU “payback” in the short term that can only hurt Britain further.

The leave campaign in Britain was hijacked by the political ambitions of Boris Johnson, a controversial character.  He was until recently the Lord Mayor of London.  He was at Eton at the same time as Cameron and there has always been intense rivalry between them.  Boris is seen by many as a clown and his private life has been notorious.  However, he is one of those people that if he fell down a sewer he would come up holding a gold coin.  Without Boris the Leave campaign would have had no real public leader as the only other notable person was Nigel Farrage, a non-elected right winger whose main focus was on immigration.  This was the key emotional issue in the debates, but at the end of the day I personally think that it was more the general public’s uneducated views on the EU and the attitude of “let’s protest about them” that made the difference.

Within my family there have been strong opposing views as to whether or not the right outcome was achieved and some are elated about the outcome.  However one member of my family said “I voted Leave, but I never thought that it would happen.”  This also seems to be the view of many others that have spoken on television and there is now a new phrase, instead of “Brexit” (Britain’s exit from the EU) the phrase “Regrexit” (wished we had not voted to leave) is being termed. This describes those people who voted to Leave as a protest against the EU, but did not really want it to happen in reality and now that it has happened, they are fearful of the outcome.

The people I feel most sorry for are the younger generation.  The voting split, as to what age group voted for which camp, clearly shows that it was young people who voted to remain in Europe and the older generation who voted to leave.  As one women on television said “I feel awful that I voted to leave and have spoiled the opportunity that my children and grand children clearly wanted.  It is their inheritance I have ruined.”  One young man wrote to the Spectator and said that he felt “I have been screwed by my parents”. 

75% of young people (under age 35) who voted, voted to remain, though more older people voted than younger people.  I think this shows that it is the older age group who have built up this dislike of the EU and want to have things “as they used to be”  (is this a factor of growing old??) while young people see the opportunities for being in Europe and see it as their future.

The immediate fall-out has been the resignation (though not until a new leader has been chosen) by David Cameron and the push to also oust Jeremy Corbyn the Labour Party leader.  David Cameron clearly could not stay on, but in choosing to go only when the Conservative Party have chosen a new leader is probably a tactic to try and ensure that the party have time to mobilise to keep Boris from being elected as leader.  Boris is certainly not liked by the majority of Tories, but if they think he can win the Conservative Paty another election then he will get supported.  The Labour Party sees the prospect of a General Election in the next few months.  This could be called to confirm whoever is chosen as the new leader of the Conservative party as Prime Minister.  Many feel that Jeremy Corbyn is unelectable and so are seeking to oust him now to find a new more credible leader who would have a better chance to stand in opposition to whoever becomes Tory Leader.

My money is on Theresa May for the Tories and Hilary Benn as Labour leader.

The other issue in all of this is Scotland, where the Parliament there have now begun the process to potentially have a new independence referendum.  Scotland voted overwhelmingly to remain in Europe and feel that by gaining independence they can continue to do so.  The Leave vote has been a godsend for them if it results in independence for Scotland.  The fear is that this will also drive calls for Northern Ireland to break away from the United Kingdom and join with Ireland.  The Queen must be deeply worried at the potential break up of her realm.

Clearly only a few days have elapsed and there are many pieces still moving and the implications are still not clear.  However, what is certain is that this was a historic vote and Britain is now on a different course and it will be a few years before anyone can really tell whether or not the right choice was made.

 

King Harry Ferry

So – moving on!  The King Harry Ferry is a 5 minute drive from Feock and an inexpensive way to cross the River Fal saving at least a 40 minute drive around.  It delivers you onto the Roseland Peninsula, a beautiful area of Cornwall.  Our first stop off the ferry was at St. Just in Roseland a very pretty little church set in a semi-tropical garden.  The church dates back to a 6^th century Celtic church but the present building is 13^th century and is built close to the water’s edge.  The interior of the church is pretty but actually quite plain and lacking the large stained glass windows of many other churches.  However it feels very peaceful.  

The sub-tropical gardens surrounding the church came about in the 19^th century when a parishioner, supported by the then Rector, planted a large collection of tropical plants in the grounds.  These thrived in the warm climate and the proximity of the water.  Over time the churchyard was extended throughout the “forest” and now graves are set amongst the trees, pathways, streams and pond.  It is a tranquil scene.  There is also a tree to which people affix messages in the branches of memories of loved ones.  One very moving tribute was to a young baby with the words “in memory of (babies name), born sleeping”.

 

Small area of churchyard close to the Cove

This would be a lovely church within which to get married, as was the case the day after our visit and the flower designers were busy at work.  It is one of those churches where the bride could arrive by boat, however, you would have to check on the state of the tide on the day of the wedding as you could otherwise have a very muddy wedding dress!

 

St. Mawes

From St. Just we drove down to St. Mawes.  As you can tell by the names, Cornwall is a place where many Saints were revered.  Indeed Feock was once called St. Feock. The greater majority of these Saints all came from Ireland and established a Celtic form of Christianity, the same as on Iona with St. Columba.  In Cornwall many of the Saints have legends of having arrived in coracles sitting on a rock.  A coracle is a small boat, often round, made of willow and covered by animal hide.  The rock no doubt was used as ballast to keep the craft stable.  They would have had to have chosen a period of very calm weather to safely row across the Irish Sea to Britain.  No doubt many erstwhile Saints remains lie under the waters of the Irish Sea and the Atlantic if this truly was how they travelled.  St Columba is known to have slept using a rock as his pillow, so it is possible that the rock was more than just ballast and a way of keeping their spiritual lives as comfortless as possible.

 

Sailing at St Mawes

St. Mawes was holding sailing races while we were there, though most of the sailors were having a pasty and coffee when we arrived.  The sail boats were all of the same class (unknown to me) and had bright logos on their top sail.  We also had a pasty and coffee, served in a very haphazard and confused manner by people who were clearly “locals”.  The buildings in St. Mawes are a mix of old and 50s style architecture.  A parade of shops, with flats above, in the Car Park looked particularly depressing and by the amount of weeds growing in the gutters, I imagine that they get a lot of damp problems.  There is also a castle in St. Mawes, again, more of a fortified gun emplacement than a true castle.  This was  paired up with Pendennis Castle across the bay in Falmouth.

 

St. Mawes castle

In St Mawes and facing the ocean is a renowned boutique hotel, owned by Alex Polizzi a hotelier known for her television program “The Hotel Inspector”.  I should maybe try and stay here at some future time.

 

Sold Out!

 Finally in St. Mawes they had been selling petrol at 2 shillings and sixpence a gallon, which equates to approximately 2 pence per litre in new money.  Unfortunately they had sold out before I got there, indeed probably 50 years before I got there!

 

Portscatho

Our next stop was Portscatho, a lovely little village with two beaches.  Above the main beach there is a small cliff side garden, which would be a lovely place to sit and admire the view.  At this point the South West Coastal Path enters the village.  It is just beside a United Church and Methodist Chapel that provides a coffee urn and honesty box for visitors. The village seems very much self contained having a butcher, a baker, a gallery, pub and restaurant.  I did not see a grocer, so perhaps Tesco Direct supplies the rest.

 

Veryan Round Houses

A little further up the coast is Veryan, which has an unusual pair of round cottages either side of the road as you enter the village.  There are a similar pair also as you exit the village.  They are apparently built round so that the devil has no place to hide.  The village has a mill dating back to the 16^th century, now a visitor attraction and place to eat.  In the 19^th century the local Vicar persuaded the villagers to attend church regularly and also built a school for boys and later one for girls where they could learn “female tasks”.  Outside the village is Carne Beacon reputed to be the burial place of the Cornish King Gerranius.  Fable has it that he is buried inside a golden boat with silver oars, but no one has yet found this.  Perhaps it is similar to the site at Sutton Hoo in Sussex where a King was found buried inside his longship.

We stopped and had afternoon tea (saffron cake and scones with Cornish clotted cream of course!) at The Nare restaurant/hotel overlooking Gerran’s bay.

 

Gerran's Bay

We briefly stopped at Portloe.  Looking down onto the beach there were 2 adjacent pubs seemingly doing a good trade.  One of the local houses had a very obvious nautical connection having the figurehead from the prow of a ship affixed to its wall.

Caerhays Castle

Port Holland is next and is a bay within the private estate of Caerhayes Castle.  This is more of a castellated manor house than a castle and dates back to the 13^th century.  Though not open when we were there it has apparently the largest collection of magnolia species in the country.

Rural scene at Port Holland

 

A lucky shot!

Our next village was Goran Haven and this proved to be a real pleasant surprise.  The harbour wall encloses a lovely sandy beach.  The water is shallow and we deemed it to be a perfect place to take young children.  

Goran Haven

Adjacent to the harbour is a fish and chip shop serving excellent fish and with an honesty policy about letting you have trays etc to take to the beach, trusting you to return them.  We bought 4 portions of cod and chips and sat on the sea wall in the sunshine and ate these for our supper.  At the suggestion of the fish and chip shop owner we went to the pub a few doors away and obtained 4 glasses of lager to wash down the food!  Again something that would be prohibited in Vancouver.  Our meal drew the attention of the local seagulls, but they caused most consternation when attempting to eat a picnic laid out on a blanket nearby and guarded only by a small child. The gulls clearly saw her as no threat and swarmed the picnic, but the parents raced back and shooed them away, but I think they did get some of the food. 

The Local Library

One very nice thing in Goran Haven was the old red telephone box that has been turned into a small lending library for second hand books; a nice community thing to do.  We realised when we were there that Goran Haven used to be the home of  an Aunt and Uncle of Marilyn; they used to run the local dairy.  Her Uncle was at one time also the Lord Mayor of St. Austel and achieved some notoriety when he resigned his membership of the Conservative party in protest against Margaret Thatcher.

 

Mevagissey

From Goran Haven we followed the coast road as best we could. At Pentewen were the obligatory static caravans, but they were set out away from the beauty of the coastline.   We first saw Mevagissey, from above from Port Mellon.  Mevagissey has two harbours, the inner and the outer and though some fishing vessels are still based here, there is little of the fishing industry surviving.  Although at first sight, the name of the town would suggest it is not named after or associated with any saints, the name Mevagissey actually comes from two Irish saints, St. Meva and St. Issay.  Their names are joined by the Cornish word for “and” which is “hag” hence Mev-hag-issay.  Although the RNLI name is very evident in the town, surprisingly there is now no RNLI station here.  I say surprisingly because it has seemed that anywhere little village on the ocean during my journey has an RNLI lifeboat.  The station was originally at Port Mellon and then moved into Mevagissey.  However, in 1930, Fowey, across the bay, was equipped with a motorized lifeboat and so the Mevagissey station closed and is now used as an aquarium.  We were a few days too early for “Feast Week” which is held in Mevagissey at the end of June.  There is a celebration of food, fun and the famous Cornish Floral Dance.

 

"Fishing Boat" at Mevagissey

We then followed the road up to St. Austell and joined the A390 for a quick drive back to Feock.  Tomorrow I will use this same road to return us to St. Austell for the penultimate part of my journey.