Visit to Cornwall and Salisbury
The other weekend we drove the new car down to the most south-eastern point in the UK – Cornwall. Along the way we went to the ancient stones at Avebury. These are huge stones that are arranged in a circle around this very old village. It was every bit as nice as Stonehenge (which we past as well – you can see it from the road). Also, we saw a couple of the white horses – these are the outline of horses that have been carved into the side of hills. The hills have chalk so you have a white horse on green grass effect.
In Cornwall, we stayed at St Ives which is an old fishing town that is home for many of the artists in the area. It also has a Tate Gallery there – nice, new building but I thought the exhibition was a bit limited. I always find it amazing that a canvas of blue paint shades represents so much – and it has to be explained for others to understand!
Anyway, we ate our way around the area – Cornish pasties and a lovely dinner at a fish restaurant. Both of us fell foul to seagull droppings at Land’s End – windy, desolate place with a very tacky touristy area. Not on my list of places to make a return visit to. The beaches were nice enough but I imagine they are absolutely packed in summer. We also drove to see Mount St Michele which is an old castle located on an island just off the coast. At low tide you can walk out there on a path and tour the facility. Unfortunately we got there at high tide so had to view it from the mainland.
On the trip back we stayed overnight near the town of Salisbury. Parking is atrocious there but the town itself has managed to retain a lot of it’s original character. We visited Salisbury cathedral which has the highest medieval spire in Europe. What was really interesting is that the foundations only go down about 8 feet and underneath this is a water table. They also have one of the few remaining copies of the Magna Carta there – the foundation for many government constitutions.
All in all – a nice trip, made nicer by the fact that we traveled in Christos’s new car – THE BMW!
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