Home Is Behind, the World Ahead, and There Are Many Paths to Tread...

Location: Tintagel, England

Saturday night we stayed in our first B&B of the trip: a little place in Exeter chosen for both it's low price and its proximity to the central train station. I think that the hostel we stayed at in Cardiff was a bit nicer, but we still got a nice traditional english breakfast (with fried egg, beans, mushrooms, tomato, bacon, sausage, toast, and tea.) We even got to stay in single rooms (one of which was en-suite) because one of their regulars had been unable to leave as planned and the owner of the B&B emailed me and asked if we would be alright with two singles instead of our double for the same price.

On our way to the train station to catch a bus (yes, you read that right) we happened upon a launderette and a nice guy helped us figure out how to navigate the washers and dryers (and gave us some laundry soap and 50 pence: he was very helpful) so we have clean clothes again! Then we took two buses and finally arrived at the little coastal town of Boscastle. The bus rides were an adventure unto themselves. The road winding it's way through the sheep-speckled fields was lined with hedges carefully trimmed so as to just barely allow two cars to pass each other. Barely. And we were in a bus, not a car. Our driver was fearless though, and I had the faith, so it was actually pretty fun.

We actually overshot the stop we needed by a little bit, so we ended up descending this hill down the edge of a road with no place to walk alongside it, stopping and flattening ourselves against the side whenever a car came toward us (it really wasn't that perilous, nobody worry! Well, maybe a bit. But we lived!) And then we came down into a little offshoot of the town with souvenir shops and cafes dotted along a strip of path leading to the ocean, and to the next part of our journey: the coastal footpath to Tintagel.

Sounds like just the time for a snag to occur. And it occurred in the form of a sudden gust of wind which reached out and snatched Jazlin's hat (which was on my head) away, off a bridge, and down to a mossy outcropping next to a stream. And inaccessible outcropping. Except by the owner of the shop it sat behind. So, while Jazlin looked over the bridge and lamented, I headed for the shop.

Feeling very sheepish, I explained the situation to the owner, who looked about how one might be expected to look at such a request, before announcing that she would have to close the shop so that we could go out back, and that I would need to wait until there were no other customers (there were about five at the time) before she could do so. I waited anxiously as the last person ambled out the door, and then the shopkeeper took me around the back to try and retrieve the hat. It was, of course, out of reach, (on the other side of a slippery mossy mini-stream) and she could not let me try to get it. She disappeared around the corner of the shop and returned with a long broom handle, with which she proceeded to free the hat from its moist resting place and deposit it into my waiting hands.

Feeling really grateful (and like a complete pest) I gave Jazlin back her hat and bought a knickknack from the store so that I at least had done something in return for all the lady's help. We dallied in Boscastle for a bit, before finally starting down the path to Tintagel.

Now, as it turned out, the path was quite lovely. It had little wildflowers growing along it, dramatic cliffs to one side, and rolling grassy fields to the other. Then there was the occasional field of sheep, or cows, or little bunny rabbits. We had also gotten started a little later than planned, thanks to the incident with the hat. These are all contributing factors to what ultimately ended in exhausted and mildy soggy Jazlin and Lindsey trudging along the streets of Tintagel at dusk in search of a place to stay (this being the first time we hadn't managed to book one online ahead of time.)

We were rapidly switching from the "I hope we can find someplace inexpensive..." to "Please just let someplace not be full!" when there, rising up before us, was the Castle View B&B. A yellow sign out front even announced that rooms started at 20 pounds: much better than we had been hoping for! I hesitantly went down and rang the bell next to the darkened windows. Soon Jazlin and I were being shown to quaint room with a queen bed, no TV, and no ocean view (the latter two points seemed much more serious drawbacks to our guide than they were to us by that point.)

Thanks for all your comments, I love reading them (and someday when I have time I will figure out how to set it so I can reply to them.)

Monday's adventures coming soon!