2011 Summer Holiday 3 - Globe Vale, Redruth (the end of our stay)

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11 August 2011 – Thursday: The car

I had been worrying about the rear suspension on the car since Forest Glade so decided to pursue to problem further by taking the car it in to the 4X4 centre at Crowlas.  They had a look at the car and hooked it up to computer.  He found that there was no leak in the rear air bag so thought the problem was the sensor.  He felt it was not major and that I should leave it until I got home.  I told him that I was towing but he felt it would not be a problem.  I was also becoming increasingly concerned about the noise produced by one of the offside bearings.

After not really solving any of the problems I went back and picked up my wife and daughter.  We decided to head for the National Trust property at Godolphin.  Unfortunately when we arrived, the road was blocked so we decided to go on to the car park overlooking the sea at Marazion for lunch.  Time was getting on and so after lunch, instead of going back to Godolphin decided to go to Mousehole.  When we got to Mousehole we realised we couldn’t get parked so we headed back to Marazion for an ice cream – Roskilly’s of course.  After our lovely ice cream, it was about time to head back to Globe Vale for tea.  I suppose it was a bit of a waste of a day really, but I suppose some days go like that.

 

12 August 2011 – Friday: Porthcurno

I have always wanted to visit Pothcurno but have never got around to it.  This year was going to be different so we headed off.  I decided that we need to get the bearings done on the one wheel of the car so we stopped off at the 4X4 centre at Crowlas on the way, to see if they could do the job.  He had a listen and identified the front offside wheel as the culprit.  He said you could not get the bearings seperately, but it needed a new hub – about 1 hour’s work – and asked me to ring later on in the day when he had got a price for the part. 

We carried on to Porthcurno and headed for the Telegraph museum – had lunch in the car, when we arrived.  The museum itself seemed very good and we had a good look around.  As time was going on, I needed to ring the garage but couldn’t get a ’phone signal.  We ended up by going out of Porthcurno to get a signal.  Eventually got signal at the top of the hill, and contacted the garage -  £200 for the part + 1 hrs labour + VAT., but it needs to be done, so I booked it in for Monday. 

Went on a drive to Sennen Cove just to have a quick look and then back to Penzance for Tesco and then Hayle to pick up pasties for tea from Philp’s.

　

13 August 2011 – Saturday: Porthtowan and Treasure Park

Today was going to be a beach day, so we headed off to Pothtowan.  Our daughter went in the sea but my wife and I were gradually getting colder sitting on the beach.  It began to get rather cloudy and one of those dark rain clouds appeared.  I put on a sweatshirt for the first time this holiday.  Eventually it started to look as if it would rain so we headed off back to the car.  Got back to the car about 2.45pm and had our late lunch in car park.  The afternoon ended up by being rather showery.  I needed to pop in to Penrose Touring to get some top toilet fluid and then after we went for a quick visit to Treasure Park.

The Treasure Park was free to get in and was quite interesting.  My wife and daughter enjoyed looking at the pearl stones and silver, but they were banned from buying.  They had a candle shop and then a large outlet that had on display a James Bond Aston Martin, the Time Machine car from Back to the Future, the large robot from Star Wars, a statue of Superman and some gold bars (probably fake) guarded by a tarantula.

　

14 August 2011 – Sunday: Kennack Sands

Another good day for weather so we headed off down the Lizard to Kennack Sands again.  I have to say, I do like Kennack.  Although the sand is dark and all the kids look as they’ve been playing in mud, it is a lovely sheltered beach and we have always been able to park the car without a problem.  Against my better judgement we decided to have lunch on beach – not my favourite way to eat lunch.

After a pleasant afternoon on the beach, we headed off early in order to catch Tesco’s at Helston before it shut at 4pm – almost forgot it was Sunday! 

We decided to use the Cadac skotel for tea.  It was the first time we have used this cooking plate.  My wife decided she would do meatballs and bolognese sauce on the skotel and ribbon spaghetti on the van cooker.  It worked very well and my wife liked using the skotel.

　

15 August 2011 – Monday: Eldest daughter arrives

We began the day be heading down to Crowlas to take the car in to 4X4 centre at for the bearing hub and a tyre repair.  The idea was to drop off my wife and daughter in Penzance to have a look around, but we were a bit late so decided just to walk around Crowlas for an hour.  Crowlas is just a small village either side of the main A30.  We thouight we would try and find somewhere to have a cup of tea.  Sadly, there was nowhere.  Crowlas consisted of a Spar shop, a fish and chip shop, a pub, and little else.  Not even the pub was open for a drink of any sort.  We basically ran out of things to see after the first 10 minutes.  Unfortunately there were no toilets in Crowlas either, and I was becoming rather desperate.  I asked in the Spar, but they were unable to oblige – they replied that even they had to use the loos in the house next door!!  In the end I had to ‘make other arrangements’!!!

We collected the car, paid up, and went on to the car part at Marazion for lunch.  Couldn’t resist a Roskilly’s Ice Cream from the little café/shop. 

After lunch we needed to head in the direction of Newquay as we had to pick up our eldest daughter from Newquay Airport, who was coming down from Manchester to join us for six nights.   We decided to go to the National Trust property at Trerice.  Not over impressed by house.  It was quite small and it was over-staffed with stewards who became a little bothersome!  We couldn’t dare leave a Nation Trust property without visiting the café though, which was up to it’s usual standard. 

We went for a ride into Newquay, and to be honest, I was not really impressed with the town.  It was a bit too ‘commercial’ for my liking.  Eventually we found Morrison’s for shopping, but it was so crowded.  It was getting towards teatime so we went off in search of a chip shop and eventually found one at St Columb Major. 

After some lovely chips we went a ride to Morgan Porth and Bedruthan Steps.  My wife and daughter decided to go on a little walk at Bedruthan after which we headed for the airport.   Our eldest was due in at 8.20pm so we got there about 7.50pm.  Fortunately the plane was a little early in arriving – it landed at 8.10pm so we were soon on our way back to Globe Vale.  She was very tired so we all went to bed a little earlier than usual, but not before picked up email about our friend’s funeral.  The date would be Friday 26^th August – officially the last day of our holiday – so we would go home a day earlier from St Mabyn.

　

16 August 2011 – Tuesday: St Ives and Land’s End

Our eldest had settled in and we introduced her to out Cadac cooked breakfast.  She was keen on buying a wet suit so we set off in search.  I had spotted ‘The Wetsuit Factory’ at Hayle and from the outside it looked like the sort of place for a bargain.  In reality it was really quite expensive.  We thought we would look elsewhere in Hayle and ended up at the Co-Op where she picked one up for £25.  As we were there, we ordered our pasties for tea from Philp’s and decided we would battle with St Ives after lunch. 

We decided to go back to the car park overlooking the bay at Marazion for lunch.  After driving around, we dropped off ourtwo daughters at Pothmeor beach and then my wife and I went off in search of a parking space.  After circling St Ives about twice we gave up and went to The Engine pub at Cripplesease as a more relaxing alternative.  We went back for the girls at about 4pm, having allowed them ample time to find the surf on Porthmeor.  I dropped off my wife, who got out to find them, and I managed to park on double yellow lines up a side road and use the disabled blue badge.  Once we had the girls in the car it was about 5pm so we headed back to Hayle to pick up the pasties.

After the pasties and a quick visit to Costa for a drink, we headed off to Land’s End, for firework night.  We had a good look around.and were ‘entertained’ by a sort of blues band who I swear only knew 12 bars!  Saw the Scilly Isles in the distance (and then came all the ‘silly’ jokes).  My wife took quite a few photos of the sunset before we settled down for the lovely firework display.  

The weather was fine today but it tried to drizzle why we were at Lands End.  It was after 11pm when we eventually got back to the caravan, but we had had a good day out.

　

17 August 2011 – Wednesday: The Lizard

We awoke to a really nasty morning and it looked like rain was set in for the day.  Lounged around for most of the morning and thought we’d head in the direction of the Lizard for lunch.  Weather picked up and we had a lovely sunny afternoon.  Parked in the National Trust car park at the Lizard, had lunch and walked down to Lizard point.  After the Lizard we thought we would go to Roskilly’s for an Ice Cream before heading back for BBQ tea, followed by the ‘I am Number Four’ DVD.

　

18 August 2011 – Thursday: Last full day at Globe Vale

Dropped off our daughters at Porthtowan for time on the beach while we did some tidying and packing.  We cheated a little though as we went to The Bridge pub for a little drink before heading back to Globe Vale to start the packing.  Started to empty the awning and pack the van before picking the girls up at about 5.30pm.  In the end we didn’t take down the awning today though.   We decided to have a meal in the Shaft Bar on the site as it was our final night here.