By comparison the country of England is about one fifth the size of Texas. So in terms of distance driving from the northeastern part of the country to fairly close to the southwestern tip was not a major accomplishment. It is however made a little bit praiseworthy by the fact that for over 350 miles it was all done the way it's supposed to be done on the left hand side of the road. Speaking of roads, the motorways are excellent, sometimes 4-5 lanes wide with the only drawback being there are a ton of trucks. Some of the secondary roads near the end of the trip were only slightly wider than the car, which isn't very wide.
Since November when we were in New Zealand I've quite literally driven close to if not more miles on the left side of the road as I have on the right hand side. Even still, with forty plus years experience on the right it takes some degree of concentration. It's not too difficult however, just when I would settle and start to feel comfortable they seemed to throw in a roundabout to keep me humble.
The drivers over here are courteous, well except for the one guy on the motorcycle that I must have cut off. I felt genuinely bad for this and would have apologized but he didn't seem to be in the mood for me chasing him down to say "I'm sorry" so I left well enough alone.
The day before leaving York we decided that it might be a good investment to by a GPS. We got to the store just before it closed and a friendly sales clerk helped us pick out one that had preloaded maps of everywhere we'll be on this trip (UK and Ireland). Beth and I got a kick out of just how calm and soothing the voice is coming out of that device. It's almost as if she is "suggesting" instead of telling you what to do like some you often hear. Not far into the drive we agreed that this was quite possibly one of the best investments we have made in our lives. We would have probably made it to our destination without her but it sure would have been a different trip. Speaking of our destination, it is the tiny fishing village of Polperro (population:5,280). As you might have guessed by now we made it and boy was the drive worth it.
We're here for seven days in a very cute, small one bedroom cottage located over Gina's Art Studio. If I took about 8 steps out the front door and across the Roman Bridge I'd fall into the harbor. I don't intend to demonstrate this but the pictures will prove it. There is really only one challenge with the cottage and that is it has low ceilings in quite a few places. So we survived the drive unscathed and I unlocked the front door excited to see what it looked like upstairs. I went up about two steps and suddenly it felt as if I'd been hit over the head with a cast iron skillet. I had found the first low ceiling! Experience may be the best teacher because I haven't done it again. The knot is almost gone and the wound is healing nicely. I'm sure my dad was looking down and laughing at me since I used to always tease him about constantly bumping his head.................karma.
We've already done some exploring so I'll certainly be sharing some more history as well as our experiences over the next week as we dive in to this scenic little town and the surrounding Cornwall area.
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| Been there, done that! |
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| That's our cottage on the second floor just above Gina's Art Studio |
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| Taken just outside our front door looking out towards the harbor |
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| Polperro Harbor |
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| The Shell House in Polperro |
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| A fishing boat returning to the harbor-the difference between high and low tides here is about fifteen feet so they can only go out or come in at high tide. |
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| Looking into the very well protected harbor |
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| Not only a rich history of fishing but smuggling as well although it might not be what you think.....more on smuggling in a later blog. |
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| Looking back at Polperro from the Coastal Path |
