Take a hat

13.10.09

The hills are alive – in Southampton

A long-standing commitment meant a Saturday night visit to the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton.
The show was about a novice nun who goes to work in the house of a retired Navy man with seven kids. You can guess what happens next, the kids are jumping in and out of bed with her, they do things with goats, the father goes off and the children go wild and are dressed up in curtain material.
Should have been in the News of the World, or a case for Social Services, but you guessed it, the Sound of Music on stage!

It was quite good actually, should have been Connie Fisher in the Maria role. She won the TV programme to find a Maria for the West End show. At the interval Jacqui asked the lady next to me ‘who is playing Maria’ as it obviously was a stand-in? (we were too tight to buy a programme). “It’s not Connie and I’m cross, in fact I’m very cross, I’m going to tell them I’m cross. I only came to see Connie!” - whoops.
I thought it was hilarious, if it was White Hart Lane and Harry making an unpopular substitution I can imagine the reaction “what you bringing that ******* lump of lard on for etc. You don’t know what you’re doing”
Maybe next match I’ll take a leaf out of her book - I’ll say I’m cross, I’m very cross, I only came to see Defoe? - or perhaps not!
Sound of Music film was not popular in Austria when it came out as it did not show Austrians in a very good light. Too many open wounds I suppose. Today it’s a major tourist attraction in Salzburg with Sound of Music tours taking punters to all the venues. You can dress up as a Nun and go running across a mountain pasture. Have not done it myself, don’t want to get into the habit!

Apparently on a visit by the Austrian President to Ronald Reagan’s White House they arranged to play Edelweiss thinking it was the Austrian National Anthem. Unfortunately they didn’t realise it was a Rogers & Hammerstein tune from an unpopular musical and Edelweiss is the national flower of Switzerland. It must have truly been a night to remember.

10 Reasons to visit Padstow Area

Constantine Bay

10 Good Reasons to visit Padstow and surroundings

1. Mobile phones don’t work – people don’t walk around with a phone at their ear with their sights on some distant person and place
2. Stunning scenery with lovely coves and harbours

3. Beautiful sandy beaches, we were near Constantine Bay.
4. High quality self-catering accommodation
5. Great cliff-top walks
6. It feels like abroad but with lovely British Beer
7. The Camel Trail – anyone can rent a bike for the day
8. Linda the Lobster
9. You might meet Doc Martin?
10.

Traditional and unspoilt – don’t go as far south as Newquay

10 Reasons not to visit

1. Mobile phones don’t work – can be inconvenient, but who cares.
2. Expensive restaurants
3. Cornish drivers and its a long drive
4. ..... I’m struggling, there aren’t 10 reasons not to visit!

11.10.09

Port Isaac - Spot the Doc's House?

October in Padstow and Port Isaac

Ferry Nice!

Cheated today, took the Ferry over from Padstow to Rock. £6 return with the Bike. Its a short ride across the estuary and the ferry is like a landing craft. Rock is pretty posh. Lots of nice houses and appartments. Had a coffee in the Blue Tomatoe, nice cafe.

Polzeath

Followed the road around the coast via Polzeath to Port Isaac. Another beautiful October day. Port Isaac is a lovely wee port. TW and TMIL came too but in the car via Wadebridge. The mobility wagon struggled a bit on the hills but worth the effort. A painful leg meant hiring a wagon in Truro. It worked well though and enabled her to go to a lot of places that would otherwise have been impossible.

The logistics were a bit tricky.

There are lots of tourists but it really is unspoilt and they don't really capitalise on their Doc. Martin fame too much. Helluva hill on the way out!

Spot the Doc's House

Cycling in Cornwall - Biking the Camel Trail

The train standing at Platfrom 1 is the 12 o’clock to Wadebridge, Rifle Range Platfrom, Groglen Halt, Nanstallon Halt, Boscarne Junction, Dunmere Halt and Bodmin.

It used to be a railway branch line linking Padstow to Bodmin. Now it is cycling trail. It's also been extended to Wenford Bridge, along an old quarry tramway, to about 18 miles. Apart from the section through the town of Wadebridge, its all off-road. From Padstow it follows the Camel River estuary, after Wadebridge it goes through Beech woods then past babbling brooks, a Vineyard and of course disused platforms.
So my first Monday morning meant a lie in till 8.45, a hearty breakfast then a cycle into Padstow to join the Camel Trail. So over 40 miles but it's pretty flat.

Cornish Pasty

Lunch was a typical Tin Mine Workers special - pasty and beer!
As I had not been doing in any real work I ate the crust! Our Tin Worker ancestors had dirty paws and used the crust to hold the pasty rather than poison themselves with Arsenic. There are surprisingly few watering holes en route but riding the camel is worth a day of anyone's retirement.

Padstow – Larry the Lobster and friends

On the Quay at Padstow there’s the National Lobster Hatchery.
It’s a nice idea to give nature a helping hand and increase lobster numbers.
If a fisherman pots a female lobster with eggs they take it along to the hatchery where they take the eggs and nurture them up to a size where they can be released. Each little lobster lives in its own yoghurt pot until its put into the sea. They have to have their own pot otherwise they eat each other. Anyway, guarantees a decent livelihood for local fishermen and sustains the lobster population. Cost three pounds to visit the centre buts it’s a good claws. Pity we can’t do the same for cod and herring. The pic above is of Dai the Claw, he's about 50 and blue?