Europe 2023 9th August Day 6 - Tinners Arms , Zennor

Up at a reasonable hour this morning for breakfast before collecting the hire car and heading towards the west coast. The lady at the bar when we booked in said breakfast starts at 8am so we walked downstairs and nothing? Went outside and walked around the premises to see if we had missed something but no, all closed . Waited for a short while before someone turned up to open the pub. We enquired when breakfast would be ready and he advised that it was upstairs in the restaurant which we had not seen. So upstairs to the most gorgeous room and a good hearty breakfast with our first eggs benny of the trip.

I then left and walked through the city for half an hour to the Europcar office and most depressing; boarded up buildings and the rest that goes with a poor dependent community.

Car was not ready on arrival after google maps lead me astray but not long to wait and ready to go with the performance vehicle the VW Polo 😂.

Went back to The Three Crowns to collect Jane and our luggage and then on our way. ( The Three Crowns was brilliant, heartily recommend). Went to Menheniot first re a little family history and then on to Liskead.

Had a little walk around the town and a very nice cream tea, making sure jam first and then cream as now in Cornwall. From here we set google maps for Padstow and off we went. Now this is where you say, why did you listen to the satnav? We had a number of deviations from major roads but all ended well and we went through some of the most stunning scenery. One particular spot was the Respryn bridge over the River Fowey close to one of the ' Duchy of Cornwall ' properties that was built in the 1400's. Still standing and just wide enough for cars to cross, amazing.

Eventually we made it to Padstow and as we drove down into the town, missed the carpark entrance. Now that was one big mistake not to make again in these small seaside towns. We were warned about the crowds at these towns in summer but certainly didn't expect this, like swarms of bees. The road was almost impassable due to people blocking the road and given they were just wide enough for our little VW Polo it was extremely challenging to state the bleeding obvious. Eventually we made it out and decided that was enough of Padstow and headed on towards St Ives.

Isabel had been to Newquay recently and recommended having a look and as this was on the way to St Ives we thought we would have a look. 

Boardmasters!!! 5 days of music, surf and teenage lifestyle. And we just happened to pass through on one of the five days of festival. Imagine a schoolies for 10,000 camping in the paddock. Once again narrow road with a continuous procession of shuttle buses (full size double deckers) sharing the road, nightmare. So that's a no to Newquay and just kept driving through best we could. Drove through St Ives and continued on to our acufor the next two nights in Zennor at The Tinners Arms. Arrived around 5pm and what a sight; brilliant little stone pub with outside area next to a gorgeous church, just outside what at best could be called a hamlet ( I think that's smaller than a village?). Checked and taken to the most beautiful room with ensuite. Another win! Downstairs and out into the beer garden with a pint of the local ale for me and a Pinot Grigio for Jane and spent the rest of the evening sitting there while Jane did some sewing and chatting with some walkers doing the South West Trail and just loving life. Work? F....work 😇

PS did end with a single malt so god knows what tomorrow will bring.