Goodbye England. We left Porthleven early in the morning and were on the ferry at four in the afternoon. The white cliffs of Dover in the distance were the last sight of England and the last stage of my three-month journey. Now I am back in Germany, back in Berlin and back to "reality". I once again had a wonderful time and am grateful for the experience and all the nice and helpful people I met. I hope to be back with news of another journey or a hostel or mountain hut job in England or Italy one day...

Goodbye Beacon Crag...

Tonight we had dinner at "The harbour Inn", also right in the harbour of Porthleven and very nice apart from the horrible music in the bar area. On our way back to Beacon Crag we stopped once more at the "Ship Inn" for a pint and then walked back under a stunning starlit sky. So beautiful.

Canons in the harbour of Porthleven and in the background "The Ship Inn", the pub where we ate last night. The third time I went to that pub over the course of ten years. Twice with Baggy, the first time in 2002, the second time now. And once on my own in 2006. Nice reflections in the puddle.

Waves breaking on the outer wall of Porthleven's harbour at high tide. The light is incredible. The weather also. Porthleven is absolutely beautiful.

Boats and crab cages in the harbour

The small harbour of Mullion Cove

Mullion Cove against the light. Another beautiful spot and we saw it again in beautiful weather too. We had a most delicious sandwich and Cream Tea in the small and cosy cafe in the tiny harbour and decided to take the bus from there back to Porthleven to avoid stress on our last day in England (sigh).

St Winwalow, the ancient church hidden away in Church Cove. Some parts of the building are as old as the eleventh century. Church Cove is on the walk from Porthleven to Lizard, we left our B&B in fine weather not sure how far we would walk because it is a quite long walk and we had to catch a bus back.

The view from Beacon Crag garden towards Megiliggar Rocks. We are staying at this beautiful place for two nights, then we are going back to Germany. One more day and my three-month journey will come to an end. One more day on the marvellous south west coast of my beloved England.

 

 

Beacon Crag from the other side, coming from Porthleven. No longer in the fog, but in the afternoon sun.

The clock tower of Porthleven and the pretty row of houses

Porthleven harbour. Porthleven is a wonderful village and very special to me. It is the third time I have come here in ten years.

Praa Sands in the sun. All of a sudden the sky opened up and everything looked different. We had just walked into the "Sandbar", the only place on the beach that was still open, as the sun came out. Without asking for it we were offered a ride back to Porthleven (thank you Giles!), saving us a long walk to the bus stop and the fare.

Old mine buildings on Trewavas Head. In the fog.

Looking back at our B&B Beacon Crag in the hazy silvery light of a damp but mild day. At least it wasn't raining when we started our walk.

The cafe at Kynance Cove (far right). We were the only guests. Out car was the only car in the National Trust car park. We had tea in the cafe and then decided to go straight on to Porthleven, leave our stuff at the B&B and walk at least a bit, rain or not.

Kynance Cove, possibly the most beautiful bay on the English coast. Beautiful also in the rain. And it did rain. It rained so heavily this morning that we decided to scrap plans to walk from Lizard Point to Porthleven. Instead we took advantage of an offer to go by car to Helston and pick up our own car there. From Helston we drove to Kynance Cove because it is so nice and we have such good memories of the first time we went there together more than ten years ago.

Look at that lovely evening sky...

Lizard youth hostel. Again a beautiful yha, well kept, friendly, wonderful views. And a huge en suite room. Now we are sitting in the "Top house" pub, in front of an open fire. Our food was good, but expensive and not enough. We walked for seven hours today (with three breaks), climbed 600m and went down 650m.

Looking out of the window of "the most southerly cafe" at Lizard Point. We arrived there in the pouring rain and had a Latte there, waiting for the yha to open. I remember the last time I was here, three years ago. I stayed at the self-catering yha, but didn't have anything to eat or drink. I was told that the cafe opened at eight o'clock, so I walked down, also in the rain, to have breakfast and found the cafe closed. The owner was such a kind person, he let me in and gave me tea. And when I left I didn't even have to pay. I sent a postcard to say thanks for being so nice, I would do the same thing from the bottom of my heart if I only had a cafe or B&B there too. So this place is not only the "most southerly", but also "the most friendly" cafe on the south west coast.

Approaching Lizard Point lighthouse. It started to rain when we got to Bull Point, which is about a mile from Lizard Point.

"The devil's frying pan"

And the lovely fishermen's boats

Looking out of the "The Old Cellars" onto the tiny harbour of Cadgwith.

Cadgwith. It is such a pittoresque fishermen's village. We took another break there to have our first cream tea in Cornwall. We had plenty of time anyway, considering we couldn't get into the yha before 17:00.

Kennack Sands. We walked along the beach instead of taking the coast path because the tide was out and is was fun walking on the sand. We stopped at the small cafe there and had a cup of tea.

A pretty beach just after Beagles Point, in the silver light of October. We took a short break there, admiring the view, the soft breeze, the moment.

Looking back at the youth hostel as we started our walk towards Lizard Point. The weather wasn't too bad, it was very cloudy, but it was warm and it didn't rain and the sun was there, trying hard to shine through the mist, which created a very particular atmosphere.

And the dining room where we had a huge and tasty breakfast. We were the only ones having breakfast, we were only in four in total at the hostel.

The lounge

Coverack youth hostel, a lovely hostel. I highly recommend this place for obvious reasons.

Blue evening light. This is the incredible view from our room in Coverack youth hostel. The yha is amazing, one of the nicest ever. A beautiful building in a stunning setting with breath-taking views, very clean, very tidy, very comfortable. And a good looking, ever so sweet, friendly and helpful young man at the reception. We arrived late at the yha. It was only a short walk from St Keverne but we first had difficulties getting from the village to the coast path and later had trouble finding the hostel. All went well though, now we are "Paris Hotel" in the tiny harbour and just had a reasonable pub meal.

Approaching Coverack in fog and rain. It had already rained heavily during the drive to Helston, where we left the car. Finding a car park where we could leave the car for more days turned out to be a problem, but we were lucky and met a very friendly local who arranged for us to leave the car at the rugby club not far from Tesco supermarket, where we could easily get on the bus to St Keverne.

A view of Royal Crescent just behind our B&B. It shows the typical crescent-shaped buildings Bath is - amongst other things - known for. Unfortunately we didn't have the time to see the town because we had a long drive ahead of us. So we went only for a very short stroll nearby this morning before leaving.

Dorset Villa in Bath. We arrived late, after 20:00. Baggy got to Marlborough at 19:00, then we had some difficulties finding our B&B, but managed to get there and to the nearest pub just before the kitchen closed at nine.

An image of Marlborough at dawn. It is a very pretty town, but difficult to take photos of. I often think that it would be nice if the centres of many lovely Englisch towns and villages were made car-free. I am now sitting in "The Green Dragon", waiting for Baggy to pick me up so we can go on to Bath, where we are booked into a B&B for the night.

And his ashes are buried at the beautiful graveyard of St Mary church. I came here to pay him a visit as I always do when I come to England. It is such a beautiful and peaceful place.
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My father was born here in 1929. In one of these houses.

The bakery. Isn't it lovely?

The post office and the traditonal stone masons that unfortunately had to close a few years ago.

Great Bedwyn. I caught a bus to Marlborough, had tea and a slice of delicious Victoria's Sandwich at Polly's Tearooms and then got on a bus to Great Bedwyn, which is a delightful small village.

Temple Meads train station in Bristol. A very nice old building. And the black cabs are blue here. I accompanied Sabine to the airport, took a bus back to the city centre and then got on a train to Swindon. I was expecting to meet Baggy there at about 15:00, but that didn't work because she and my sister missed the ferry from Calais and would be arriving late.

Envious?

The lovely tearoom where we had our ladies' afternoon tea

The tiny square in tiny and very pretty Morthoe

Pembroke beach. We drove to Woolacombe, went for a walk on the beach and then drove on to Morthoe, parked the car and went for a short walk to Bull Point lighthouse and back to Morthoe.

The very long beach below Saunton. We left our farm after a late breakfast, in the rain, but later the weather improved. We stopped a couple of times to admire the great views from the smaller roads in the coast.

"The Bell Inn" in Parkham, some five miles from Woolsery. It was the second night we have eaten here because it is such a nice pub and the food is really really good. There is also a jolly and relaxed atmosphere in the pub. And it isn't expensive either. Highly recommended by pub specialist Fiona B.