Leaving Cornwall

Treyarnon Bay is a glorious site, as already noted in an earlier post.  It's only 50 meters from the Atlantic Ocean.

The youth hostel where we stayed services more than youth (a good thing for those of us over 50).

And there were a number of middle aged adults, as well as young families.  The hostel allows for some self-catering, but sells the Traditional Breakfast as noted in a previous post.

The hostel sells other meals and has a bar.

I've already written about the terrific view I had from my room, but the truth is, all anyone else had to do was go down to reception to take advantage of the sights.

The coastline is dotted with some terrific benches.

This beauty is my favorite.

I particularly admired the centerpiece featuring the dragon, along with the great table.

Many of the benches sported plaques memorializing the meaning of the vista for the honored person.

The statement on the back of the bench says "Lark song...sounds in the air.  And splendor, splendor everywhere."

This says, "The Captain & the Purple Lady, The Sun is Always Over the Yard Arm"

"In Loving Memory of George Stock, Husband to Vi.   30th December 1917 to 15th April 2010;  In Loving Memory of Violet (Vi)  Stock, 7th April 1921 to January 2009."

 Each of the three days we were in Cornwall, we saw glorious rainbows. 

This is the best rainbow shot of the weekend--sorry for the repeat, but I think it's worth the redundancy.

I think we all came to see Cornwall as a magical place, a land of rainbows.

Treyarnon villlage was a pretty high rent district.  Our walk from the Constantine Bay Surf Shop took us past some phenomenal properties.

This home is not far from the hostel where we stayed.

These dwellings were along the road leading to the beach (a road Mark was not allowed to drive).

Looking at this hotel clinched the high rent label for the village.

The parking lot of the hotel was filled with classic cars all weekend.

We watched on Sunday as one classic car after another headed out of the village.

We decided to drive directly back to Worcester, and it was a long drive.  Coach drivers must stop for at least 45 minutes for every four and a half hours they're on the road.  That usually entails stopping at "Services" on the side of the motorway.

These facilities include coffee shops, news agents (WHSmith), fast food "restaurants" (Burger King, etc.) and M & S (Marks and Spencer) (or S & M, as one of my friends says).

Naturally, there are gas stations at all Services sites, but there are also motels on some of them.  We all approach these visits with different orientations as to how we will spend our time--usually involving visits to the loo, coffee and sweets.  One of my colleagues and I took the opportunity to walk five or six laps around the car park.  The Services are useful facilities, and somewhat more appealing than the truck stops we're used to from the states. They seem a bit more contained.  Additionally the motorways themselves (or at least the ones I've been on) do not feature billboards on the side of the road--a welcome absence.

Our driver was truly heroic on this trip, and we all owe him a great deal.  This was the last weekend trip my fellow faculty member and I will take with our students.  Next term, our replacements will take three more weekend trips, including one to Edinburgh (soooooo jealous).  We have a few day trips planned for the programme yet this term, but bigger trips will be on my own.  Stayed tuned for reports on France, the Harry Potter tour, and eastern Europe.