Wednesday 29 June

FIRST OF ALL thank you Issy for your messages yes we got them both and you are a sweetie to write to us. Sorry to hear you are all sickees though. Grandma saw a little mouse on the track today and had to step over it. If you look at the photos from yesterday you will see a little brown frog that was on the camel trail. It was very small about the size of your hand. Cute too.

Today started nice and sunny and we decided to go to Tintagel. This is a village on the top of a cliff and there are old ruins of a castle down the bottom of the cliffs that has become part of the legend as the castle that King Arthur and the Knights of the round table were purported to come from.

We left Wadebridge and again took to the narrow backroads except that this was meant to be a major road. We got to the turnoff to Tintagel and this became an even narrower road. Even the locals don't speed and you often have to stop and wait for the oncoming traffic to get past some of the even narrower bits. You can tell when you get to these bits as the centre line on the road ceases. The hedgerows along the sides of the road don't allow you to see anything along the way either. We got to a little village with a tight corner and here ahead was a sign telling us "Slow Down for Fox Ake" - we laughed.

We got our pay and display car park up in the village of Tintagel. At this pay and display we had to put in the car registration number first before the money. We went for a walk to find the castle, took a wrong turning as we didn't see the sign which was on the other side of the road from the footpath and had it's back towards us, and ended up at the castle hotel that sits high above the cliffs. Wanted a loo anyway and returned to the track. Down we went, steep as and probably about half a mile. They even had a land rover that you could have paid £2 per person to be taken to the bottom of the track. Mostly they went down empty and came back up full. At the kiosk we showed our Heritage Pass and they let us through. We could see tracks and stairs everywhere and it wasn't until we got to the bottom and could see around the corner that we could see the bridge to the island and the steep stairs leading up the side of the cliff and around the corner out of sight.

The cove below and the beach was very rugged and we read that they bought ships into the bay and moored them to load tin from nearby.

Off I set up the steps and over the bridge to the island. Jannie decided to sit this one out after seeing the challenge ahead. I lost count of the number of steps as I climbed at 87 because I had to wait and move aside to let a couple on their way down pass. Up and up and then through an arch and studded door, (put there in 1802) and opened out into the ruins of the castle. This is built right on the edge of the cliff. There are holes in the stonework in parts that allows you to see the sea and other cliffs in the distance. There are well defined rooms and although the walls are in disrepair you can see how much work was undertaken to build something so big in such a precarious site. There were lots of buildings, garden areas, a tunnel system that they are unsure as to the use of and even a well right up on the top of the island. There were hundreds of people wandering round. One couple had walking sticks so I don't know how they got up the very steep steps. All the steps we seem to climb must have been made by very tall people as they are twice the normal rise. The other thing that surprises us is the number of bloody dogs that are everywhere and some people have two or three on leads and yes there were several up amongst the ruins.

Getting back down to the kiosk was much harder than going up but eventually I made it and we sat down for our morning espresso. Good coffee and scone. After which it was back up the steep track to the village and only one stop along the way. Tintagel village has lovely old stone house and shops. The Old Post Office is a beaut.

It was after midday so we decided to go to Port Isaac for lunch. We did go here in 2006 with Jane and Paul and thought that it would be good to see again. Port Isaac is the village where the television series Dr Martin was filmed and the television series Poldark and the film Saving Grace and although we did see an episode of Dr Martin being filmed last time we were here there was nothing going down this time. Nothing going down except us walking to the bottom of yet another hill. Quaint houses and an even quainter pub for lunch. Crab and prawn salads again plus the usual pint and a half of the local lager. Those two people deserved a beer. Went for a wander after lunch and then it was back up the hill to the car park and the drive back into Wadebridge. We did a walk of the town after we got back and walked the two bridges over the Camel River. Have booked at a Bistro for dinner tonight as it was full up last night.