May 6, 2012 Falmouth / Corwall

Today we were up early and had breakfast upstairs in the Horizon Court, the cafeteria.  After breakfast we went down to the Vines Café, where we hooked up with the other people on the tour we were going on.

Falmouth is a tender port, so we had to get a ticket to get off the boat and wait our turn with the tenders.  It was a 20 minute tender ride into the dock at Falmouth.  Here we met our driver and off we went.

Leaving the port we headed out to visit the area of Great Brittan known as Cornwall.  Our driver was born and raised in this area and was full of stories about the area.  She is also very passionate about her native Cornwall.  There were 16 of us on our small bus, which is a nice size for a tour.

We visited areas around Falmouth before turning south and into the heart of Cornwall.  We visited areas on the river Fal, from which Falmouth got its name.  The river Fal and the river Helford played a major role in the commerce of the area.  Ship used to sail up the rivers to pick up tin and other goods for trade around the world.  Both rivers are tidal rivers and the depth depends on whether the tide is in or out.

We visited several small villages and drove down some very narrow 2 lane highways.  In the United States we would call them single lanes.  Several times cars had to back up to let us pass.  The hedge rows growing alongside the roads are tall and thick, pretty, but tall and thick.  This makes the drive very interesting, but restricts the sightseeing. The villages, we saw, had names like Marazion, Port Navas, Constantine, Gweek, Culdrose, Porthleveen, Brage, Ashtoff, Germoe, Penzance and Mousehole (pronounced Mazahoo.  In Penzance we stopped for lunch and again Judi and I had Fish and Chips.  After leaving Penzance we visited the Merry Maidens.  The Merry Maidens is a circle of standing stones.  It is a short version of the Stonehenge.

We returned to the boat late afternoon and stood in line for about 45 minutes to catch a tender back to the boat.  The tender ride was quite wild with the wind and the incoming tide causing waves and swells.  We arrived safely and after a short rest it was down to dinner.  We retired early as we lose another hour tonight.  

The visit to St. Michaels Mount was the most interesting for me.  We got there at low tide and could walk across the tidal basin to the Mount.  When the tide is in, you have to take a ferry.  The Mount as had a varied history; a trading post, a Monastery, a fort, a private residence and now a museum.

The name comes from a Cornish legend that fishermen saw the Archangel Michael here.  It became a pilgrimage center during the middle ages.  Like its larger French namesake, Mont saint Michel, it can be reached on foot at low tide.

Cornwall Pictures