Today we took our bikes and rode the Camel Trail, which follows the river Camel from Wadebridge, to Padstow. The only expense we incurred, other than getting there, was the £3.40 to park all day. We didin’t even pay for the sugar for our coffee. Dearly Beloved got some free vouchers from the paper (which he freegans from the train) and gets coffee from Starbucks, we also gather tonnes of sugar, ketchup, salt, pepper from the occasional trip to Mc Donalds or other huge companies who wouldn’t miss them.
So, on arriving close to Padstow, after the five mile bike ride; we stopped and enjoyed the incredible views. (Sorry about the face pulling, but I’m blowing on hot coffee).
We parked up the bikes and walked into Padstow.
The tide was dropping all the time, revealing the sand banks and the wading birds.
When in Cornwall, try to have a Kelly’s ice cream, they are still a major employer and have hudreds of people in their factory in Bodmin; we didn’t succumb today.
It was another overcast day today, but Padstow was as busy as ever. It was thick with tourists, typically the Phoebe and Quentin types, who didn’t know what to do with Tarquin and Tabatha now they’d given nanny the fortnight off! They had arms like stretch Armstrong, laden down with bags of surf clothes and the multitude of goodies sold by Ricky Stein!
In some streets, Steiny boy had three shops next to each other selling: art, clothes and the cafe, in another street he had a pasty shop, several chippies and of course his three story, bar on the roof terrace restaurant. It might be over kill, but it brings tourists to Padstein all year round and keeps people employed.
We on the other hand, just soaked up the ambiance, took our picnic and found a bench by the harbour and sat, ate our sandwiches and drank our coffee. We then snuggled up in the afternoon sun and listening to a folk musician busking and watched the tourists try to keep their children from falling in the harbour and spending all of their merchant banking city bonuses!
After snoozing together for a while, just generally being lazy and on holiday; we walked further from town and towards the beach. We’ve never done this before and I can recommend it. We walked through a field that led to the war memorial and we met with a line of benches at the top of the hill. The views of Rock and the estuary were wonderful.

After taking as much sun and lazing around as we could cope with, we headed back. The hedge rows were groaning with crab apples (Malus Sylvestris) and by the time we got back to Wadebridge, we managed to pick half a basket full. The blog about what I did with the crab apples will follow later!
Our journey by bikes was so slow as we stopped to watch the Canada geese and their aerobatic displays, to watch the wading birds and so often just to sit by the estuary and watch the world go by. We didn’t go to a fancy restaurant, we didn’t step foot inside any shops, not even for a coffee but we had a fantastic day because we had time and each other.

It’s misty murky day; neither hot nor cold, we’ve no money and I couldn’t be happier. Dearly Beloved now has a week off and we’re going to make the most of that we value the most, time and each other. We packed the dogs into the car and headed for Cardinham Woods and the steep 4K inclines of the Callywith Wood Walk. It’s just enough to get the lungs and calves working and some of the views are as breath taking as the steep paths.
There is something Tolkeinesque about forests which make me think of Hobbits and elves. I find it an incredibly romantic and beautiful place.
It’s also lovely to have the time to tease funnel web spiders out of their hidey holes. If you gently tickle the web with a blade of grass; the vibrations are similar to that of a trapped insect and the spider, with it yellowy brown face and long tendril like front legs will come out for a nose, only to be disappointed and reverse back into the safety of his lair. It was a game I played for hours as a child, we even used to trap flies to feed them to the spiders, the bigger and the deeper the funnel, then the bigger the spider. They still bring out the little girl in me when I see them now.
The paths through Cardinham are wide and easy to walk, a few puffing cyclists (as Patsy would say “buttocks like two boiled eggs in a handkerchief”) make it look easy. But we took it as an hour long hand in hand gentle stroll, chatting as we went.
The woods are loved by local families and are a great activity for people on holiday, come rain or shine the BBQ area, with free to use BBQs are well frequented, with parents on benches and children playing in the grass of the gently burbling river.
If you have children, or are just in need of somewhere away from commercialism and full of peace, then this is the place to go. It’s still drizzling now and I’m still stuffed after homemade carbonara for lunch. Today’s adventures are not over yet and Friday is the day of the local car boot sale and as it’s pay day, who know what we might find.