Cornwall, RAB and The Apple in the Garden

Cornwall

Last Friday I picked the girls up from school at lunchtime and we headed out onto the road. We drove, and drove, and drove some more. We sat in traffic for an hour in Bristol. And then we drove some more. Down the M4, the M5 and the A30, all the way to Penzance, home of the pirates. We finally washed up on the shores of Boswarthen Farm and plunked our selves down for a few days of camping out (of sorts) and hanging about waiting for Himself to arrive at Lands End.

Cornwall is absolutely gorgeous - hilly open country, sheer rocky cliffs down to beautiful sandy beaches and turquoise blue water shading to navy away from shore. The weather was beyond perfect. On Saturday we headed east to Glendurgan Gardens and spent a lovely afternoon walking through the grounds, working our way through the maze and climbing on the rocks on the beach.

Back at our camp, the girls happily tended to some chickens and we had sausages and fresh scrambled eggs for dinner. At 9:30 pm. Because cooking over a poorly designed wood stove burning sumac is not a fast process. The next day we hit Trengwainton Gardens, Sennen Cove for some more beachy times, and went off to Lands End to meet Daddy at the end of his ride.

RAB
Himself arrived in Lands End at about 3:30 on Sunday afternoon, after nine days and 1008 miles of riding, including 15 vertical miles of climbing. He had an absolute blast, but was so completely done in that he was pretty much useless for a good 36 hours post-finish. We hung out at Lands End having a few beers with his riding buddies for a couple of hours, and then headed back to the farm. Our plans for coming back to London on Monday got waylaid in the sunshine of Monday morning, so we hung out at yet another spectacular beach - Kynance Cove - splashing in the extremely cold water and eating Cornish ice cream.

We finally headed home yesterday, breaking the 6 hour long journey into more manageable bits with a stop at Castle Drogo in Devon and tea in Somerset with some friends.

And last night I may have done something very, very silly...

I entered next year's Ride Across Britain. Uh oh!

The Apple in the Garden

Our visit to Trengwainton was enhanced by the sudden removal of one of Devil's wobbly front teeth while she was eating an apple. We were sitting on a bench having a snack, when I suddenly realized she was looking at her hand and saying "What's this?"

Lo and behold, there was a very small tooth lying in her palm, a bloody spot on her apple and a lovely line of bloody drool trailing down her chin. It was all very exciting. Nana's beautiful Tooth Fairy pillow was put to work that night, and the lucky thing ended up with some butterfly hair clips and a two pound coin for giving up her first tooth! She has been informed, however, that the Tooth Fairy was being extra generous because it was the first tooth she'd lost. Such riches will not be quite so forthcoming in the future!

We arrived back in London at 9:30 last night, exhausted, salty, sunburned and sporting some poison ivy (lucky me!). The girls went back to school this morning a bit worn out, and I suspect our evening holds both much wailing and drama, and very early bedtimes. But it was an absolutely fantastic trip. I hope the rest of the family is looking forward to going back next year as much as I am!