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Ahoy, me hearties!T'is Calico Sal 'ere, hoping you have recovered from all that 'love' stuff , yesterday?!
Well...what a weekend, me shipmates!
Cap'n Snippets woke me up on Saturday mornin'...
'Shake a leg, Saucy Sal! I wanna know how you're gonna enhance my day today, you buxom, little wench!!!
Oooerr!
I don't know about 'enhance' but t'was out with the railway timetables and no sooner than he could say 'thunderin' cannonballs',
we grabbed our clobber and, not forgetting our pieces of eight, off we went to a place where
pirates like to go...
Penzance!
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We rarely go west on our travels. I will explain.
Firstly, I hate Plymouth and secondly, I am not a fan of Cornwall either!
(Shock horror...I know some of you might want to make me walk the plank or give me a taste of that cat o' nine tails ... for stating such a fact!)
But tis true!
I have tried soooo hard, over the years, to like Cornwall; tried soooo hard to give it a place in my affections, tried oh sooo hard to give it chance after chance.
Ok..it has some pretty little fishing villages, I grant you but not much else grabs me about Cornwall, I am sorry to say that!
***
But... I do love a good train journey and bearing in mind the time distance from where I live to Penzance, (about 2 hours 40 mins) I reckoned that £7.25 for a single journey was amazingly cheap!!! You could never get a journey going the other way, say to London, that cheap!
You'd have done the same, I bet!
As it was so cheap, I enquired about first class upgrades,which you can buy at weekends (Calico Sal does have a certain standard to keep up!) and I was told that we should sit in first class and wait for the ticket man to come along and pay him the upgrade fee . And that is what we did! And we waited and waited....
So..first class to Penzance for £7.25 each...that'll do nicely! ;-)
Yo ho ho!
On with the day...now where was I?
Ah Penzance? (No wonder it was so flippin' cheap to get there! LOL)
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Ok, that's harsh...we found one or two pretty streets, had lunch in a very noisy pub (but at least it was showing the footy..Southampton v Portsmouth)
We found a street where I would happily live (if it was not in Penzance). I loved these houses.
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This one was definitely for me.
When I am old, I am going to wear purple and not only that, I will paint my house purple as well..!
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But... it has to be said that the highlight of our trip was definitely... umm... the wall mural!
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Don't you just love it? I do.
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Oh and in case you are wondering...we had to pay the first class upgrade coming home on the Penzance to Paddington train...but it was worth it (a tenner each) as we had the whole of the first class carriage, from Penzance to Newton Abbot , to ourselves!!
I entertained the old Cap'n with the hornpipe whilst he drank his grog.... and a fine journey was had by all.
I returned with NO booty! My pieces of eight came back home with me, intact...as did his doubloons! Oooo..arrrrr! Say no more!! LOL ;-)
Enhance?
And ye may lay to that!
(in other words...you betcha I did! LOL!)
And do I NOT want to go back to Penzance?
Ye may lay to that too!
;-)
;-)
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Oh and before I forget...in this photo, you can just spy St Michael's Mount, in the distance.
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I did however, get an order for one thousand shabby, vintagey, eye patches, from this motley crew!
And if you believe that then you are a bigger fool then me!
;-)
Hi Sal.
ReplyDeleteKnow what you mean about Cornwall, Devon is VERY hard to beat; but if Mr Blossom didn't have to go to Plymouth twice a year, (taking me and the cats), then we wouldn't have got to Totnes.
Why are pirates, pirates? Because they arrrre!
Where do pirates shop, (when not buying eye patches)? Arrrgos!
I'm off to walk the plank....
Z x
I'm glad that a fine day was had. Living on the east coast (sunny Suffolk), it would be a long trip to Penzance. Not too sure I'll bother!Great photos, thanks xx
ReplyDeletehahaha...I agree!! We used to stay in a nice pub just outside the train station in Penzance, it was really cheap. We use to go in winter when there was no holiday makers but we haven't done it for years. We keep talking about it because the trains are so cheap but.......!!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you had fun anyway :) x
I know what you mean about Penzance. I was a bit disappointed too!
ReplyDeleteLol! A very funny, jolly post, shiver me timbers! xx
ReplyDeleteOh Sal, If only you had carried on a wee bit farther to Mousehole I believe you would have been charmed!
ReplyDeleteThose piates are very 'ansome indeed!
Sarah x
Not been to Penzance for four or five years but judging by your comments and photos, it's not improved (and, my goodness, it needed to even then!) The houses you photographed which you like are near the Art Gallery/Museum, are they not? Now, that is worth a visit if only for the lovely Newlyn School of artists. But Cornwall isn't a patch on Devon. St Michael's Mount is lovely, especially when viewed from Marazion at night, and there are some lovely NT houses and gardens (Lanhydrock and Cotehele) but the countryside is, for the most part, bleak with few redeaming features. I have a sneaking admiration, though, for Plymouth as my husband used to work in HM Dockyard many years ago (before that he was stationed at RAF Mount Batten when it was an RAF station), but not been there for years. Like you, we much prefer Exeter.
ReplyDeleteMargaret P
But what about St Ives??
ReplyDeleteOK, I won't put Penzance on my list of places to visit!! Sounds like you had a good day out!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun post! I roared with laughter!
ReplyDeleteCould it have anything to do with the fact that there is no Cath Kidston shop in Penzance. It is the first outing you have written about where you have not come back laden with fabric goodies.
ReplyDeleteShiver me timbers! No looting (er, shopping) - that is a scandal!
ReplyDeleteWhat is my cat doing on a mural in Penzance? Maybe she is a pirate's cat, not a witchy kitty after all...
Jayne
In reply to Summerfete, yes, St Ives is lovely (when the sun is shining) and it has the Tate St Ives (lovely buidling, pity about the paintings ... but then you can't love the Newlyn School, which I do, and the St Ives School, which I don't!) My memory of St Ives is from the 1950s. I went with my Mum on a coach trip from Torquay to St Ives and we found a wallet in the ladies' loo. We handed it into the police station as it contained £25 and return tickets to Cardiff. A lot of money in the 1950s. Sometime later Mum had a reply from the woman who had claimed it - she was most grateful and sent Mum a pair of stockings to thank her. I also bought a little vase, just an inch or two high, and I still have it and whenever I see it, I'm reminded of that day, more than 50 years ago. And, of course, some of the books of Rosamunde Pilcher are set in Porthkerris (aka St Ives)
ReplyDeleteI would also recommend the books of the late Janie Bolitho, who set some of her novels in and around Penzance and Newlyn (and she made it sound idyllic!)
Margaret P
I've only been to Cornwall once Sal, but I must join you in saying I was rather disappointed, especially after the other half had bigged it up but then surfing is not really my thing! Give me Dorset, Somerset or Devon any day!
ReplyDeleteHen x
Must be over ten years since we stayed in Penzance and I have to agree it did seem a little world weary in places. I loved the art gallery there and the views towards St Michael's Mount. I love Mousehole which is just beyond Penzance and the Lizard Peninsula and the open air theatre at Minnack. The Art Gallery in the town was very interesting and I loved the paintings of the Newlyn School:) Having said that I have very happy childhood memories of holidays in both Devon and Cornwall:)
ReplyDeleteWell, you didn't go to one of the better parts of Cornwall. I love Cornwall but don't bother with Penzance. The walk across the causeway to the Mount is quite exciting though. xx
ReplyDelete