This summer, Europe to spend less, but since it is still the trip of the year, we choose a destination that is nevertheless a bit expensive and that I had always thought about: Cornwall! While at it, I organised 4 days in London, after many years, plus another 11 to visit the south-west of the United Kingdom. Well, granted that this area of the country really deserves it, as far as the supposed saving goes, if we had gone to a faraway country, maybe in Asia, we would certainly have spent less..! And if you consider that I had found plane tickets at €95 per person to Gatwick, we really spent like crazy! Everything costs: transport, but also petrol, sleeping, eating and, above all, in a wildly ridiculous and shameful way: entry to churches, monuments and.."views".
Yes, because you are also obliged to pay for many beautiful spots on the cliffs, where you can walk, and they are arranged so that you have no escape: you have to pay to get there!... The most scandalous example of all: Tower of London, 2 adults and two students, €128! Here, I discovered only once back home, they even cheated us, making us pay an extra fee, a supposed Donation, in case you want to give them even more on top of the already exorbitant prices, but without asking! But not even the Sistine Chapel, please!!!! Surely we in Italy are too foolish, with the most beautiful monuments in the world, affordable prices and museum opening hours so long..that I have still not found anywhere else! And yet, our governments never invest enough in our "oil", on the contrary they cut and we always complain! Jokes aside, I regretted not having got the National Trust card, because with 2 or 3 ent
ries I would have recovered it and because I would have saved a lot of money on parking. It certainly does not cover everything, but do your sums before leaving..and do them better than I did! Coming to the actual trip, I would like to give some general and rather quick ideas. I do not want to give London any space, because I do not love it and this was the fourth confirmation. That is, there are some beautiful things..but only some.
The museums are full of masterpieces stolen or bought? all over the world, the beautiful views and monuments are very few for a capital that is nevertheless ancient, it is too chaotic and in my view it bases its supposed beauty on myths that say nothing at all to me: the buses, the taxis, the extreme liveliness at all hours and in every neighbourhood, institutions like Harrod's, the people who after 6 pm crowd the pavements in front of the pubs with a pint of beer, the theatres. Well, the theatres do communicate something to me..but not enough to make me think this city is beautiful! Points in favour: efficiency of public transport and lawns on which to "live"..a wonderful custom certainly not only London's, but of the whole country. Points against: traffic, chaos, a really low average standard of hotels and not very clean, as well as expensive anyway...but that too is an old story.
From London we picked up a car at Sixt, through Rentalcars (we got on well with both) and headed straight west, starting a counter-clockwise loop that ended 11 days later at Gatwick airport. Among the things that REALLY moved me most are the Cathedral and the village of Wells (believe me, the cathedral alone is worth the trip), some villages in Cornwall and other regions (we crossed very many); the high coasts covered with moorland, where the red of the heather meets the blue of the sky and the sea and scattered here and there with the chimneys of abandoned mines, similar to churches; the tides, in particular at Carnewas and around St Michael's Mount; a walk in the New Forest; Stonehenge; Winchester Cathedral and..the country roads.
The road network is not excellent: few motorway stretches, even if toll-free, a shortage of speed-limit signs and more, terrifying gradients on hills that really do not look like mountains and narrow and often single-track roads in areas that are, however, not the sparsely populated and wild Highlands! We found these roads everywhere and I racked my brains throughout the trip, wondering: but how do these people manage to live like this every day? With kilometres and kilometres of very narrow roads, where two cars cannot pass and which constantly force you into nightmare reversing, hemmed in by tall and "scratchy" hedges, actually growing on the dry stone walls of the famous old Enclosure Fields, all bends and slopes? In short..roads that date back to the Middle Ages and were evidently left like this on purpose.
And that is the other side of the coin: despite our constant tension, also having a car that was not ours, these roads are beautiful. As are all those where the trees and greenery form a tunnel...kilometres and kilometres of green all around you! So many that in the end I wondered how I would manage in Italy without this spectacle for the eyes? As the countless lawns, both in the countryside and in the towns, always neat and perfect, are a spectacle for the eyes. As are the numerous gardens, public and private..but open to everyone's enjoyment! Among the beautiful things, I mention Bath and its Roman Baths, on which I would not have bet much, being Roman and having visited monuments of the Empire ranging from the Syrian desert to Finisterre and from Morocco to Hadrian's Wall: a beautiful monument and a visit organised in a truly interesting way.
Then, going roughly in the order of the route, the village of Lacock, the remains of Glastonbury Cathedral, the castle and the very beautiful village of Dunster, the little village of Lynmouth, the fjord of Boscastle, Tintagel Castle, Porthcurno, St Ives, Zennor, Mousehole, the Caribbean-looking sea of Porthcurno with its incredible Minack Theatre built right on the cliff, Porthleven, Mullion Cove, Lizard Point, the southernmost point of the country with the most powerful lighthouse in the kingdom, Mevagissey, Polperro, the Longleat estate, Salisbury Cathedral, Hurst Castle, opposite the Isle of Wight, all of Winchester..a little jewel, and the lively and crowded Brighton! We crossed many other landscapes, villages and towns, but if I have not named them, it is because for me they were not particularly worth it.
The only two I feel strongly about advising against are the archaeological site of Avebury, because you really cannot grasp the essence of this collection of monoliths, and Castle Drogo, in Dartmoor National Park, nicknamed by us Castel Frodo...because it really is something fake and tacky and..for a change..expensive! Land's End is not worth it either..but it is the westernmost point of the country, so, who knows?
Day 14 Aug 2015
Some tips!
As for eating, I remain of the opinion that in this country you can eat well. Apart from the full English breakfast, for lunch we almost always made do with sandwiches or with cornish pasties (big stuffed turnovers with meat and vegetables or vegetables.. good, but definitely heavy!) and in the evening at the pub. Only once did we have tea with scones, strawberry jam and Cornish clotted cream, a buttery cream or a creamy butter..I wouldn't know..that everyone judges as cloying and that I liked a lot! For sleeping I booked through booking and through some local sites like VisitCornwall or the official New Forest site. In short, the balance of the trip was definitely positive, we racked up many kilometres as always, but as always we got a slightly more complete idea of a very beautiful region.
Just keep in mind that you spend a lot of money, much more than expected...and I'm always maximally pessimistic in my spending estimates! Also, last tip, it's better to go with lots of cash, withdrawn perhaps at PT offices (very low exchange fee), because otherwise every expense with debit or credit card was added a lot of money each time, despite us asking for the expense to be directly in pounds. Then, it's true that the monuments cost, in fact for once we didn't do everything that popped into our heads, but we selected a bit, however in the end you have to do what really interests you! Otherwise... In short, doing...is to be done!
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