we left st. ives just after one, and made the short-but-winding journey to land's end. not really sure what to expect, but knowing it would be incredible, we paid our £5 parking (wut), grabbed a map, found an incredibly tight park, and headed back out into the day. we saw a trail that led to a sheer cliff face, and assumed that was where we needed to go, so off we went.
once there - i mean... the view was simply incredible. what can i say; the moody clouds and professional posing made mark look like he was the new front man for creed, and - erm, sorry about the fact you can probably see my knickers, but.. it had to be done. we were at the end of the
the walk to the cliff face was about 15 mins in each direction, plus the jumping and posing and talking mark down off a cliff (seriously), we were in the area for maybe just over an hour. the weather had really turned it on for us, but we had more things to see and do. this was a whirlwind trip, but definitely so far a highlight of both the trip, and my liiiiife. so much awesome being at the tip of the uk, and knowing there's not a great deal else out there... deep (pun).
after that, we headed off toward the minack theatre, which was the second 'non negotiable' place on mark's list, and i am pretty glad we went. it's this ridiculously old outdoor theatre, that's just built into the side of a cliff, and totally just overlooks the raging, blue ocean. we were there in the middle of the day so only managed to catch them setting up for that night's showing of...
legally blonde... much to mark's horror; he'd read that the theatre was like, some traditional-as shakespeare-worshiping place, but still, it was the most insane theatre i've ever seen. i'd have totally stuck around for a couple of hours just to watch a show there.
from the other side of the theatre we could see down to the beach where there were a couple of families considering braving the cove's icy water... we didn't see any of them actually get in though...
after that it was time to head off. we had wanted to pop into penzance on the way home and pick up some pirate paraphernalia, but as we drove back i saw sign pointed at mousehole, and decided to take a detour. just that morning, mum had text me to say she was watching a show on telly about cornwall, and they'd done a whole segment on a place called 'muscle' that i should go to because apparently it had the very best coastal scenery that the uk could offer.
she then text "it's spelled mousehole!" - which, i already knew because a friend from work was actually spending her easter break there, and we'd been musing about the pronunciation that week. it kinda felt like a sign, so detour it was. it was a nice enough drive in, but my god - if i'd thought the previous ones were narrow, i was in for a shock. these barely fit one horse and cart, let alone a car, but pulling into the small, small (like a mouse...hole) town, we managed to nab the very last park in the pay and display, and it was then we decided it was definitely meant to be!
we got out and strolled the wee village, before deciding to pop in to the local bakery for another pasty. well, the guys did, i did not, because onion because annoying because bane of my life. i sat impatiently while they ate, dreaming of food because it had been hours since even a snack had passed my lips, and i was tired from driving. maybe even a bit bratty? who could say...
sadly, we didn't find a lot to offer in mousehole, and so were out of there as quick as we'd arrived. the hour-long journey ahead of us seemed unbearable, but thanks to local radio, a continued game of "kiln/horse/alpacca", and the promise of wine and snacks when we got home, i somehow survived. we popped into asda in st austell as we neared the cottage and managed to bag like, forty pieces of baked goods at 4p a piece, thanks to the fact they were closed the following day and that it was calmost closing time. the only thing better than 4p bread is 4p pasties, which i managed to find, and without onions in them! an easter miracle!
that night, instead of head along to our 9:30pm dinner reservation, we dined on stale bread, cheap wines, easter eggs and other such junk while playing some of the most fun and ridiculous drinking games i have ever made up. yes, made up. we made them up as we went along, but at one point we were listening to creed (because mark had clearly inspired us while on that rock), and decided we should "drink every time he says 'arms'"... we were listening to "arms wide open".
it was a pretty long night after that.
