Matt and Sue - Birdwatching walkers?!?

Remember Jane Hathaway on the Beverly Hillbillies? The spinster, academic, birdwatching secretary to Mr Drysdale? Who on earth would like to be like her?


Well, apparently us. Matt and I have entered the world of the UK "Ramblers" i.e. people who take meandering walks through the countryside - both on and off trail. Now not one for being a big walker/hiker/adventurer ... (who are we kidding) ... excerciser in Aus I never thought I'd be up for one of these gigs (not mentioning the fact that it sounds daggy).

However, Matt's friend David (and his lovely girlfriend Lisa) are of the rambling type. They even have full on trekking/mountaineering shoes and have been trying to convince us for a while to go with them. Considering my exercise regime of late has been one yoga class a week and sitting on the couch looking for jobs I was a wee bit nervous to say the last.

Matt was well prepared, he'd gone out to buy his walking shoes the day before. He loves them .... apparently they're 'approach' shoes (so he's now decided he can wear them to approach anything - especially the local cafes, golf courses, pubs etc), are blue and grey and even have a cool name (Chameleon Wraps) ... all things very important to Matt. Didn't have the heart to tell him how muddy these walking tracks could be ... he's not big on getting him or his attire dirty.

Anyway, the four of us met up at Clapham Junction station to set off on our walking adventure. I was relieved to see that Lisa and David were not in possession of walking poles (a popular accessory for the rambler). After mentioning this to them, to my dismay, Lisa said she was keen to get some (just as well she has so many other redeeming features and we love her dearly). So with our trusty TimeOut guide to England Walks we headed out to Gumshall (about an hour on the train from London). At this stage, I was uncertain of the distance of the ramble ... concerned it could turn into a 'dragging-feet-and-whinging' (not that I mentioned this to my rambling friends).

After a nervous journey to Gumshall - concerned not only about the walk itself, but whether David and Lisa had binoculars and bird books in their backpacks - to my relief, I found out that our walk was rated only 3 out of 10 for dificulty (no pikes or triple somersaults required) and that it was only 15ks (about 4 hours walking - not counting stops along the way).

I hate to admit it, call me Miss Hathaway if you wish, it was very pleasant. The weather was great, not too hot, but sunny (apparently perfect rambling conditions). The walk, imaginatively titled Gumshall to Guildford, passed through a few villages, a forest, green fields with sheep/cows, local horse properties and along the River Wey (with canal boats, rowers, ducks, weeping willows, etc). We even managed to feed (by hand) some very tame and hungry horses .

We stopped at a tea-house for morning tea, where instead of getting a breakfast tea and fairy cake, I was served a 'breakfast' (the works - Sausages, eggs, bacon, toast, etc.) After the lady at the tea-shop came out to tell David that he'd really ordered a breakfast and kept trying to make him admit it, weird, we set off again. We wandered through some lovely fields and then a forest and happened to stumble upon a village pub for lunch, popular to the local rambler because of its location - midway, on this particular walk. After a neighbourly nod to our fellow ramblers, a lovely lunch, a Pimms and Lemonade and with my confidence brimming as to the ease of the walk we set off on part 2 of our adventure.

Not too long after leaving the pub there was a different path to an old Tower, up a wee hill, which David wanted to explore (slight panic setting in now ....). After a communal decision to explore the Tower ... bugger ... we started on the path to our new destination. Yes, you guessed it, a zig zagging path up a hill (i'm calling it a mountain) .... where every time I turned another corner I hoped (in vain) that the tower could be seen. David and Matt flew up the hill and Lisa took it slow to keep me company (not that she said so directly). Embarrassing when you're trying not to breathe like a crazed stalker, so you try not to breathe at all, which only makes things worse. Red faced I did make it to the top of the hill - where of course, by the time I arrived, the boys were ready to head back down the hill.

We picked up the pace on the way to Guildford until we hit a muddy part of the path ... oh no, Matt's shoes ... I can just imagine the tantrum. I then watched Matt claw and tip-toe his way along a barb-wired fence so his new shoes wouldn't get too muddy. He arrived on the other side with shoes clean, but a nice little scratch on his arm from the barbed-wire, but he thought it was worth it. (Since when does personal injury rank higher than muddy shoes? That boy has issues.)

We ended the walk sipping champagne at a pub on the River Wey and watching canal boats ... now that's more like it.

Apparently, we're up for ramble number 2 this weekend ..... eek ?!?

Cornwall

Hi all,

Sorry it's been a while since our last blog. Didn't have too much to report, e.g. exciting things like long holidays.

The quick london update: Obviously I wished a little too hard to stay a "lady of leisure". Matt and I haven't found work yet. Would be just like us to arrive when the economy gets the jitters and there are reports in the papers of Aussies leaving to go back to Australia (te, he!). Market is a little hard to crack into for non-UK people at the moment, the roles advertised tend to be very specific (i.e. must have worked in this organisation, this specific industry, etc). Plus, the roles you apply for are often not real anyway, they're just attempts by the recruiting firms to see 'what talent is out there at that time'. All a bit frustrating really. But fear not, we're still drinking wine, so it's not as though we're eating 2 minute noodles. Oh, and we found a roof terrace on top of our bedroom too. It's astro turfed, fenced and just waiting for a couple of banana lounges for summer. I love our place!

We've had some spectacular weather lately though. There were about 2 weeks where the temperature reached around 24 degrees (very unusual for May). Was fantastic! We're not far from a big common so we joined the throngs of other white-pasty bodies for a bit of sunshine. We also decided to head to Cornwall for a few days to make the most of the weather.

So, about Cornwall ...

Is a bit of drive from London to Cornwall (almost 5 hours) and that's on the main drags. After passing Stonehenge, to Matt's excitment ... not, we drove through Dartmour National Park. Absolutely stunning scenery, green rolling hills, lots of farmland, lots of very happy looking cows, horses and sheep. Some of the road we drove wasn't fenced so we were driving past sheep lazing around on the road.

We were staying in a little village called Lanivet, just outside Bodmin and midway between the north and south coasts of Cornwall. Had dinner at the local pub that night ... oh my goodness, was definitely a local. Ono of those pubs where everywhere stares at the 'out of towners'. However, I was introduced to my now favourite beer, St Austell's Tribute.

The next day was superb. We drove from our B&B in Lanivet to drive the north coast of Cornwall. We started at Tintagel (supposedly the site of King Arthur's castle and Merlin's caves). After parking our car at the bottom of the village we walked through lush fields to the Tintagel church on the headland and along a coastal path to the ruins of Tintagel castle. Was really interesting - Matt thought I was a complete nerd (possibly true). Surrounding the ruins were fields of blue bells, daisies and other flowers (all out for spring). We then walked from there to the village of Tintagel where I tried my first Cornish icecream (yummo).








Pic 1 - Tintagel Church, Pic 2 - Ruins of Tintagel Castle, Pic 3 Bluebells and Ruins




We stopped in quickly at Port Isaac, the setting of Doc Martin. We parked our car on the beach of pebbles (the only place to park in town as the streets are so narrow) and walked the streets.




Pic 4 - Port Isaac




After this, we drove straight from one end of the north coast to the other as I was keen to go to Jamie Oliver's restaurant at Watergate Bay (didn't even think that we wouldn't be able to get in). As luck would have it, just as we arrived a couple were cancelling their reservation and they had the table at the front of the restaurant, dead centre, overlooking the bay. We sipped white wine and dined on superb food (this is the life).

Pic 5 - Jamie Oliver's Fifteen

After lunch, we stopped at one of the Cornwall beaches for a look. Matt was keen to go for a swim until he felt the water temperature ... very funny. The beach was shaped like a small bay with a lot of sand from the shore to the water. There was a walking path along the headland, which Matt discovered while I was having a little kip on the beach, so we walked along the path to the next beach. We both couldn't believe how little development there was around the beaches (we both decided we wanted to live there). On the first beach, Treyarnon, you could see about 10 houses from the beach. And from Constantine Bay there were only about 4 houses. Was like paradise. Hopefully a Gold Coast developer won't ever go there!

Pic 6 - Constantine Bay

Our last stop for the day was Padstow, another fishing village. Was late Saturday so a lot of the shops were closed (including the Clough Bakery .... apparently the best Pasties in Cornwall). We stopped at Rick Stein's (another celebrity chef in the UK) fish and chip shop for dinner. I think it's the only place in the whole country that doesn't cover the stuff in greasy batter.

I can't describe well enough how beautiful the landscape of Cornwall was. A lot of the roads were very narrow (sometimes only 1 car wide), winding through tiny villages with houses made of slate and thatched rooves, with tiny flowers of every colour growing wild along the roadside. Also helped that the sky was a deep blue and the weather was beautifully warm.

The next day we took off to explore the very west coast of Cornwall. Neither of us have any idea what it looks like as the coast was fogged in til lunchtime .... bugger. We drove through St Ives, but didn't stop, to Penzance (didn't see any pirates) and onto a village I'd heard was lovely called Megavissey. Was a very typical fishing village in Cornwall. Matt had his first Cornish Pasty (verdict - not bad). After a bit of a disappointing morning (especially compared to the day before) we headed back to Lanivet to see Lanhydrock House (a spectacular country house re-built in Victorian style after a fire destroyed most of it in the late 1800s) and the location for "The Three Musketeers" and "The Twelfth Night". You should have seen the size of the kitchen in this place ..... was bigger than any kitchen I've seen in any of the old palaces/manor houses. They even had their own spit in the main kitchen. Was really well kept and a great insight into the lives of the Cornish elite.

Pic 7 - Lanydrock House

Our last stop for the day was Fowey (pronounced Foiye) on the south coast of Cornwall. Another village with tiny narrow streets and parking on the outskirts of town. Was a very cute place, with lots of book shops, tea houses and restaurants. We had dinner at this super place called Tiffins ... a deli/restaurant. The owners were very enthusiastic, the wine list great and the food was fresh (with more than 80% of it sourced in the local region).

Our last day, was mostly a drive home to London. But we did stop at a village on the north coast of Devon (bit of a detour) called Clovelly. After paying to even get into the town I was a little dubious. However, now I understand why. The town is built into a very steep hill and built either side of a cobbled road from the top of the hill to the water. The majority of the village is supported through tourism as it would cost a fortune to retain the houses in good condition. Not only are cars not allowed in the village, but the roads aren't suitable for driving anyway (unless you're in a 4 x 4!). We stopped half way up the hill on the way back for my first Cream Tea from Devonshire (I can see why they're so popular world-wide) ... and after wheezing and puffing (and sounding like a heavy breathing stalker) up the hill we got back into the car and headed back to dirty, grey London and more job hunting.

Pic 8 - Clovelly