Tuesday 28 June 2011

The sun is out - yippee! Early to breakfast and then off down the hill to hire our bikes. Had to wait for the place to open (9am) but got ourselves kitted out and headed for the Camel Trail. Both bikes had comfortable saddles, which was good, but I wore my cycle pants just in case! The trail runs alongside the river and as we started out the river was but a trickle. As the day progressed the tide poured in and on the way home the view was entirely different. Apparently years ago cargo ships would have been able to moor alongside the wharfs in Wadebridge, but after the extraction ofsand for local use ceased, the river silted up and ships were not longer able to navigate the river.

The ride through to Padstow was very easy although the wind was in our faces and very cold so we wore our coats. It took about 50 minutes to go up and around 35 to come home (tail wind). Padstow was just as charming as we remembered it and we spent a few hours exploring and mingling with the hundreds of people who seemed to appear out of nowhere! As with the other Cornish towns, everything is extremely colourful with very much a holiday atmosphere. We wandered up the path to the top of the hill and looked out towards the entrance to the river which was probably about 1-2 k's away. There was a ferry taking people from Padstow over to The Rock - opposite Padstow. It was rather like a landing craft with the front folding down so people could walk off and up the sand. We saw the ferry do several trips back and forth. There were people sunning themselves with shirts off, families with small children and lots of babies AND dogs, dogs, dogs. Can't believe how many dogs there are in Britain and all the shops let people bring them in - even into cafe's. We had lunch at a small pub back in the village and enjoyed scampi and prawns. I had the scampi and Kev the prawns - very nice and washed down with a beer. Our beers have been really cold Jane!

The ride back was very easy with the wind behind us and we made good time as mentioned. We are thoroughly enjoying our holiday even though the weather has been up and down. Everything looks so much nicer with the sun out though and I said to kev that Wadebridge looked really pretty today.

Mike Dad nearly bought you a shirt today but unfortunately they didn't have one small enough. Cant remember exactly what it had on it by "old" featured I believe. Stu we haven't heard from you for a while what's happening? Miller would have loved to be in one of the cycle trailers we saw today. Lots of people on the trail were pulling young children along and even some with dogs in the back! We saw a senior lady in Lyme Regis pushing a dog in a pushchair! Say hello to the kids for us - miss you all.