Cornish Pixies - Thursday, 4 August 2011

I try to throw a Harry Potter reference in whenever I can and a visit to Cornwall makes it easy. Yes, I visited the homeland of Cornish Pixies and although I didn't spot any electric blue creatures flying about, I definitely felt a bit of the magic that makes Cornwall so special.

The first place we visited was the castle of Tintagel. This is supposedly the birth place of the legendary hero King Arthur. I asked why it was believed to be so and the best answer I got is that “it just fits the description.” I'll let you decide what to do with that. To get to the castle you had to walk down a steep ravine and then take a million stairs up along the side of a cliff, passing Merlin's Cave and cross over onto a small narrow peninsula. Once you are at the top you can see over the ruins, far out into a cerulean sea and down into some large caverns along the coast. The view was spectacular.

Merlin's Cave

The stairs

The view

The Castle

After climbing back down and then out of the ravine we were famished so we stopped at a delicious bakery and got the biggest pasties I have ever seen. They were bigger than both of my fists together. And I ate the whole heart-clogging, face-fattening, delicious thing.

We then drove to St. Ive's, the ultimate beach destination for Britain. We got there at low tide and I couldn't help but giggle at the sight of all those boats stuck in the sand waiting for the tide. St. Ive's was a little too crazy for me. The streets were packed with tourists from all over the UK but the shops were very cool. I just couldn't understand why people would want to sunbathe in cloudy weather. For Britain, I guess it was actually pretty warm weather but I definitely wouldn't have wanted to wear a bathing suit and play in the water!

After St. Ive's we decided to try a change of scenery and we drove into the moors to find some more neolithic sites. I loved trekking through the gorse and heather. Both are large coniferous plants with very sharp needles that look very similar but with very different flowers. The combination of dark green and yellow and purple was very nice to see but without the paths through the land we wouldn't have been able to hike to the sites. While we hiked I thought about the wandering Jane Eyre and the vengeful Heathcliffe because the scenery just oozed Bronte. 

The sites were very cool and the one I liked best was a large stone that hard a hole carved out in the middle. It was set upright on another stone and Tom likes to tell us that passing through it is a fertility rite and thus will increase your fertility. Yes, he was full of it and yes, we all passed through the ring. Another funny moment was finding the quoit at Chun Downs. We all piled on top of the quoit and danced around for a bit. Also, I just think that “Chun Downs” is the ugliest and funniest name for a place.

The very last thing we did was the worst and most exciting. While driving home at about twilight, we passed a sign for a Celtic Chapel. Tom of course pulled over and we all piled out and began walking on the marked path. The path steadily got creepier and creepier. The path was covered with stinging nettle and the trees looked like they were dying. Everyone was spooked but of course we kept going. At one point Tom walked off the path into a little hollow and then he bolted back out and tripped over his own feet he got so scared. But of course we continued on. Then we came to a tree that had strips of cloth and lace and glass shards tied all over its branches. By this time all of us were shaking and looking around nervously. But of course we continued on. The chapel was small and falling apart  and lit by the last bit of sunlight. We stayed for about three seconds and then we bolted back to the car as quickly as possible. We later found out that the tree we passed is a Wishing Tree that neo-pagans worship at. Apparently, there has been a history of violence between the Christians and Pagans wishing to use the chapel for baptisms and the tree for pagan rites. Cornwall has a long history of mysticism and paganism and a large number of pagan worshipers still live there today. All I know is that the trail and chapel were the creepiest places I have ever been. All of us were shaking off goosebumps for at least an hour after.

We spent the night in the Penzance hostel. I loved being in Penzance and thinking about and humming a little of Gilbert and Sullivan. It was a good way to shake off the chills and luckily, this hostel was much more comfortable than the one in Borth. I went to sleep very happy with the day's adventures and so excited for the next.