Free Adventure weekend

We got home on Friday, exhausted after a hard week at work and decided to escape for the weekend. But despite the amount of work we do, we had managed to reach the end of the money before the end of the month, so we determined to have as much adventure as possible for as little money as we could manage.

We packed the van with toys and drove West. Somewhere past Bridgewater on the M5, it was late enough for the summer daylight to have vanished and we felt tired, so we wandered off into the countryside to find somewhere quiet and secluded to pull over. As we wandered around the country lanes, we were treated to the sight of a couple of badgers, adult and cub, bouncing along the side of the road. Soon enough, we found a quiet corner to pull over in and fell asleep with the door open, watching the stars.

Newquay

When morning dawned, we were up and about bright and early and continued on our way, ever Westward. We took it easy and had another nap on the way, arriving in Newquay as the place was beginning to come to life.

First stop was a little cove called "Lusty Glaze", where Kathleen had spent a happy holiday years ago. It would have been nice to paddle the kayak from the bay, but the idea of dragging it up and down the 130 steps of the twisty, narrow staircase put us off, so we went in search of a better location and found one at Crantock. On the instruction of the parking attendant, we drove the van straight down the middle of the carpark till we stopped with the nose in the dune nearest the sea. We dragged the boat round the corner and into the river running into the bay and paddled off the circumnavigate the island called "The Goose". When we came back, we played in the waves. Not proper surf by any stretch of the imagination, but it was the first time that we had been able to catch a wave and ride it in, so we enjoyed the fun. Later, the water became very still and we were able to drift on the boat, looking down into the sea, and could clearly see a crab on the bottom more than 2m bellow, scurrying about on the sand in the clear water.

When we packed up, the tide was out and we had to carry the boat, the life jackets and paddles half a kilometer across soft sand and over a high dune back to the van. Just a little too late to help, we bumped into Hezz (Helen Ribchester). We can't go far without bumping into a kite flyer.

Newquay Zoo

We had paddled to our hear's content, but there was still penty of time to go to Newquay Zoo, the latest "Free Admission" to be added to our Marwell ticket.

Newquey Zoo isn't a large place, but it was pleasant and relaxed. We might have come to see the animals but the first thing to catch kathleen's eye was a seagull.

There are a number of "free range" exhibits, that are tollerant of the visitors, allowing close photos:

They have a lion (something missing back home at Marwell) and we were please to catch it sticking it's tongue out:

They have Blackfoot penguins with chicks, so Kathleen was in her element:

The Marmosets and Lemurs were exceedingly cute.

Other Photos from the Newquay zoo...

Polruan and Fowey

For the evening, we headed back from whence we came and ended up in Polruan, a sleepy village built on a steep hill just over the water from Fowey. We took the ferry across to find dinner in Fowey.

Fully recharged on a hot dinner, we crossed back to climb the hill to the car. Near the top, some kind soul had fashioned their garden wall into a welcome resting spot:

Again, we found an unused lane and fell asleep in fresh air and starlight.

Torquay

With so much excercise and fresh air, even the morning light didn't stir us and it was a reasonable hour on Sunday morning before we were off again, to park above the harbour in Torquay. This was right next to our remaining free entry to a Cornish zoo - Living Coasts.

At first sight, this might look like it is going to be dissapointing, the site is smaller than a football pitch, but it is exceedinly well designed, most if not all of it is at least two levels deep and they put on an excellent display that never seems small or crampt.

There were loads of penguins for Kathleen. This time, Macaroni and African, with a number of chicks. Everything was close up and personal.

In the Puffin enclosure, there was a surf machine. It would spend several minutes filling a resevoir, then dump the whole lot in a foaming wave. One particularly adventurous (or stupid?) puffin landed on the ledge only to get washed away in the surf.

And of course, lots more birds to see.

After the zoo, we got on the tandem and toured the coast round to Paignton. Only a 6 mile round trip, but enough to take in a bit more coast without having to park.

We were caught on the hop when this aircraft fly low overhead. This is the best picture we managed.

We did toy with launching the kayak but we didn't want to pay harbour dues so Andrew snapped some more of the action from the harbour, caught Kathleen showing off her white feet and white thights, turned tail and headed home.

Total spent on hotels and admissions: Zero.