Today was a tour of the less traveled places in Cornwall. The poor weather of fog and drizzle continued all day. Gazing miles out to sea under blue skies was not to be on this trip. Our first lighthouse was at Pendeen. The pictures, which you will not see on this blog, look like last year's pictures from Cape Wrath, Scotland. Solid gray with a faint partial outline of a building.
Moving on to Lizard Point, the most southern point in England, we were met with the same landscape. We could see the the small boats pulled up on the sand, the one lonely fisherman drinking his tea, and the crashing waves, but beyond that the view was swallowed by the fog.
A car and time have given us the freedom to wander and find some interesting villages that attract few tourists. Cadgwith is just that sort of wonderful discovery. Of course, we Pay and Display, then follow the pedestrian path to the very narrow, winding, steep road through town. The path is a delight, walking past a greenhouse, a very small blue corrugated metal church, interesting old homes, and flowering gardens. As we exited the path and crossed the steep hill, I stepped on a wet, oily spot and found myself sprawled on the side of the road. My camera exploded with the battery, disk, and front lens laying beside me on the road. Cleaned it up, put it back together, and it still works. On vacation the camera is more important than a few bruises and scraped knees.
We went on a search for a couple of ancient, unexplainable stone formations. Apparently most people find them well hidden because in front of a local farmhouse we found a small printed sign with clear directions. We had already passed the dolman, Lanyon Quoit, by a half mile. Returning we found a tiny plaque at ground level perpendicular to the road and narrow stone stairs in a small opening in the hedgerow. The stones are aligned to the cardinal directions. Perhaps a burial chamber or a site of religious ceremony?
Down the road, across from the old schoolhouse, we walked a half mile trail to Men-An-Tol. This site was three stones in a line. The middle stone is round and hollowed out like a doughnut. People of the past believed the stones had magical powers that granted wishes and cured diseases when you passed people through the middle stone.
After a few more stops beside the sea we arrived at Land's End just after four. There is no town, just a few rows of shops. Each of them was closing and locking its door as we walked by. The cliffs and the ocean were in view but no chance of catching a clear glimpse of the Isles of Scilly. To prove the point, the foghorn of the Longships Lighthouse bleated its ghostly sound on a regular basis.
Despite heavy rain, the highlight of the day was attending a performance of Smoky Joe's Cafe at the Minack Theatre. The open air theatre is built into the side of a cliff overlooking Porthcumo Bay. Rowena Cade, the owner of the property, with the help,of her gardener, dug out seats and carried shipwreck timbers up from the shore to build a venue for a theatre group in 1931. Today as we wound down the stairs to our seats we walked through a multilayered sub tropical rockery. Under a canopy were the three musicians but all of the performers were under the stars or in this case the pelting rain. The heaviest rain was saved for the last forty-five minutes but those on stage didn't seem to notice and the crowd stayed on to the end. We drove home in soggy clothes, bedraggled but happy.
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