day tripping

I decided we needed to go on an adventure. At least a day trip. One without a lot of serious planning or logistics. I said, "hey, we are going to go to Tintagel and then Padstow." Mr. Jenner and the children said, "okay." So that is what we did on Saturday. We got up, we got ourselves out the door and we drove for a little while. The sun was out, we listened to the radio, and took in the view. We eventually made it to Tintagel, found parking. (pretty easy to do.) We walked. We looked at old buildings, said hello to dogs, and then wandered down the foot path to the castle ruins. If you are not the most mobile person or just tired of walking, you can take a land rover to and from the castle ruins. (you can even get a ride for your dog. 50p for the dog.) We walked as we are pretty able-bodied and one needs to build character. The kids spotted a stream, small bridges, the pleasure in standing underneath a bit of rock so that it feels a bit like a cave. We made it to the bottom and looked out over the cliff. There is a small path down to the beach where there are caves. The stream runs to the edge of the cliff and becomes a waterfall. The water that day was turquoise. A mediterranean kind of turquoise. You could see the mere specks of people on the beach as they explored the caves and skipped rocks. There was sun y'all. SUN! Everyone was out because it wasn't too cold either. We shall embrace this weather. We paid our fee to the national trust (where they always try and upsell you on a membership. Maybe for Christmas? Then we can see all the sights. ALL OF THEM.) and obtained a little sheet for the kids where they had to hunt down letters that spell out a word and then they could take that piece of paper into the gift shop for a piece of chocolate. Heck yeah! But first we had to cross a bridge where the drop was considerable and then we had to climb uneven stone steps. Some that seemed shallow and others so deep that they came up to Miss Biscuit's chest. She needed a bit of help on those steps. Otherwise she climbed on her own. This trail had switch-backs against the side of the cliff. You could look down upon jagged rocks, imposing drops into the ocean. Up we went through a small entrance to the ruins of a castle. The views were beautiful of course and the kids clamoured over the brick, spying each other through holes. Then we climbed more steps to more view points and more remains. In one spot there was the outline of what had been an enclosed garden for the ladies. There was an old well. The foundation of a chapel that was 1,000 years old. I remember seeing this about a decade ago when Mr. Jenner and I were first together and I first came to England. It blew my mind then as it does now. The kids chased each other around the chapel pretending to be zombies and yelling, "I will eat your brains now". When they would catch each other they would mumble, "yum yum brains." Mr. Jenner also played that game. We found a rabbit warren and as you watched the grass there would be little rustlings of bunnies moving about. We wandered through a tunnel that was man-made with metal tools. how old? No one knows. We found letters for the word hunt. (At first I thought it might be tintagel but then it appeared to be daffodil. We didn't even bother finding the last couple of letters.) We made our way down the uneven steps and crossed to the other part of the castle. The steps to that one were fucking vicious. So steep. So deep. And a little slippery. The one thing going for this place are the railings. Miss Biscuit and Senor Onion climbed like champs. Though near the end Miss Biscuit said, "my legs are too tired for this." I am with you lady. We climbed and looked around and admired more views and the history of a place that was once wildly busy. (It was once a port for people coming from the Med. with goods to sell, as this was also a hotspot for things like Tin-mining.) We felt we were well-informed on Cornish history and had experienced the views. We made our way down to the gift shop for chocolate bunnies. We had a look at the giftie stuff. Plenty of crystals for the cruncher set, jam for old ladies named Betty, and toy swords for those who like toy swords -namely Senor Onion. He tried to talk us into buying one. "what are you going to do with a sword?" "Fight bad guys." "Yes, that is a real problem in your neighbourhood isn't it."
We being of hardy stock, climbed back up the foot path toward the village. Senor Onion tried to talk us into taking the land rover. We said "nope, for you have too much character for that, but not enough to get out of the walk." Miss Biscuit caught a ride on her dad's shoulders. We made it back to the car only three minutes over the parking limit. We were slightly sweaty but we didn't hate existence.
Everyone had a bit of water and then it was off to drive south toward Padstow. We drove and drove and people were mentioning hunger. Through magic and luck, I remembered we had some dried fruit and nuts. Passed those around so that tempers were kept calm. Hanger would not over-take this trip that day. We parked right by the harbour and ambled into town with every other person on holiday in Cornwall. Again the sun and kind weather brought out a joyful feeling among our fellow man. Everyone was sitting by the harbour eating fish and chips, or pasties, or ice cream. It was the seaside dammit. The sun was out dammit. THIS WAS A FUCKING GREAT TIME! OMG OMG OMG SUN AND WARMTH LET'S COPULATE RIGHT HERE FOR THERE IS LIFE TO BE HAD. This is what happens sometimes.
We gave money to the little kingdom of Rick Stein. (for that man owns every other fucking shop in this place. Which is great -provides people with jobs, he is about local food, bla-di-blah let's ignore how most people can't afford to actually live there anymore because of all those rich London folk with their second homes...lalala can't hear you.) We bought some smoked haddock pasties for they are delicious, two lemon curd doughnuts because those too are delicious, and a bunch of macarons (some in pink) because otherwise Miss Biscuit was going to straight up murder some folk if she didn't get some pink macarons. This is the only reason why she gives a damn about the existence of Padstow. She can eat something that looks and tastes of pink. We sat by the water and ate all of this wonderful stuff. We watched boats coming in and out, and observed the glee of the English people. Old, young, many colors, and of assorted socio-economic backgrounds -taking in the day. Oh Sun never leave us again.
We went back to ambling. This place is just so Guardian reader on a seaside holiday. We stopped for ice cream because this is what you do. In a brief moment of "holy cow look at my kid" Senor Onion stepped right up and looked at the flavors and declared he wanted English toffee. So what you say? It just shows how well he can read. I've become so used to reading out what the flavors were but no, not today. He had this one. "Oh...OH! You can do that." A mix of pride and then that fleeting sense of "oh, he doesn't need me for that anymore." Miss Biscuit looked over her pink options and went for raspberries and cream. I had lemon meringue. Mr. Jenner was still full but was happy to help anyone eat theirs. Once we were finished and a little sticky, we continued on with our walk. Around the harbour, looking out on the bay, and then climbing toward a beach. A big grassy area where kids and dogs could be off-leash as it were. Kids were running around blowing bubbles. Dogs doing their happy trot. Ours were rolling down the slight hill, because there was so much grass to take in. We watched the boats, we looked at yet another monument to the futility of the great war, said hello to more dogs, and felt a happy kind of exhaustion. Then we wandered back into the town. I bought a few things for dinner, tried on some shoes, and then we went back to the car, and made our way home. In time for making dinner, and putting very tired children to bed.
A happy sort of Saturday.

Snaps.