On a holiday consisting mainly of views and food, it’s apt that I get my come uppance. Sneaked into a cake shop in the afternoon without telling Eileen. But a couple of bites later it was ripped from my hand with laser precision by a seagull which then seemed to proceed to share it with its mates and laugh at me at the same time.
The Hidden Hut
Stunning location, probably crazy busy in summer, and fantastic food (the less said about the coffee, though …).
And just enjoying the house.
We’ve probably seen the best of the weather, so it’s time to move around a bit.
We remember the King Harry ferry from 2009 – just after the financial crisis and so many unused cargo ships were being stored up this creek.
It’s also the place where I had my great idea for a TV series about boring jobs in amazing places (the title probably still needs some work). As it’s a chain ferry, the captain doesn’t even need to steer, and yet the views are stunning.
Trelissick
We’d been before, although I didn’t remember it.
And a lovely place to have coffee
Tuesday was a little trip around the Roseland peninsula (including picking up hitchhikers which we haven’t done for decades, but with no buses or taxis they were desperate.
It was actually more ethereal than the photo makes it look.
And back to St Mawes to enjoy our panoramic views.
Fabulous
Cheers
Weather for the weekend is just about perfect – sunny but not too hot. Forecast for the rest of the week isn’t as good, so we’re not moving far at all.
It’s nearly 20 years ago that we stayed near St Just with Jo, and at least 2 of her friends in successive years. So for old times sake, and because it’s stunning scenery we walked around the estuary to the church.
And that was that for the day!
We certainly struck lucky with the house.
We had booked to stay in a beautiful house near Lands End. We had made it as far as Bodmin when we got a call to say the house was flooded and uninhabitable. Fortunately for us there were still many vacancies, and we found this house in St Mawes that was available in less than 2 hours.
A quick re-program of the satnav and here we are. We reckon it is about 15 years since we were last here, but it feels familiar.
Here’s the house.
Woke up to a bit of a shock – my flight was cancelled. I was due to fly to Oslo in the morning, negotiate the various obstacles at Oslo airport and be back at Heathrow by late afternoon. The cancellation meant I had an extra day in Tromso, but will be spending the night in an Oslo Airport Hotel. If all goes to plan, though, SAS will not only pay my expenses today, including the hotel, but also compensation which will cover the flight costs as well.
So got the chance to do some low-key sightseeing that I wouldn’t otherwise have been able to.
Arctic Cathedral
Main Cathedral
And enjoyed watching people a bit like they were coming out of hibernation, blinking at the light. And also it was ridiculously warm again.
And the cruise ships arrived, disgorging what appeared to be thousands of passengers who seem to devour the town. Gave an impression of what it might be like when the summer season kicks off and it gets really busy.
And back at the bottom. Job done! And were we a bit stiff the next day …
So we did it! And it was really really tough – 1200 steps, but in reality a lot of the ones at the top were covered in quite deep icy snow. Most of it had melted, but by no means all.
What we did was the Sherpatrappa Hiking Trail. It’s about a mile walk from the car park before you start, and once we did start it took about an hour going up and 50 minutes coming down (which I found harder because you needed balance and brakes) but Jo found it the other way around.
Anyway, so many pictures it will take up two posts.
First resting point
First snow
Going up
Nearly there
Made it
… or not, as I’ve just found out my flight has been cancelled. Hey ho – but looks like an extra, unexpected day in Tromso.
Anyway, back to yesterday. Jo had finished her work, and so we had a free day. We had been recommended to try Ersfjordbotn, but when we found out the bus only ran every 2 hours, Jo came up with the radical suggestion of hiring a car, which we did. First place couldn’t take payment due to a major Norwegian payment problem, but Hertz did and so we had an electric car all day.
Great lunch at a cafe on the fjord, and then followed their recommendation of a short hike nearby.
