Looe is another worthy stop enroute south. I would certainly have had no problem with residing in Looe for a weekend get away. The pace was slow, everyone looked relaxed, locals were crabbing off of the edge of the walkway into the river and to top it of there fantastic little swimming spots in the center of the town in the most magnificent blue water.
For our annual Easter road trip this year (2019) we decided to hire a car and drive from London to Cornwall.
Cornwall is at the most southern part of the United Kingdom and is only separated from France by a small channel of water. It is a popular holiday destination for Brit's across the country and a known English surfing hub. I must say, I could not believe that weather could ever get warm enough to surf in England, but Cornwall happily proved me wrong when we visited.
This was the first time we had both visited Cornwall. Below is a map of all the locations we stopped which we decided were worth mentioning. Sadly we only had three full days to get in as much as we could so I am sure we are missing some other absolutely gorgeous parts of Cornwall, but I think we did a pretty good job considering!
Day 1
We started our journey on Thursday evening after work to beat the Easter traffic. We drove from London to Torquay for our first night where we stayed in a lovely country cottage found on Airbnb.
The following morning with a early start we made our way into Torquay for some breakfast and then progressed to our first destination, Brixham.
Brixham was a lovely first stop. As a girl from a small country town in South Australia, it felt nice being out of the city and in a place that felt loved. I noticed already that the shops were mostly local and were free from all the fast food chains. We took advantage of a very popular local fish and chip shop for lunch and sat on the edge of the water to eat.
Our next stop was Looe.
Looe is another worthy stop enroute south. I would certainly have had no problem with residing in Looe for a weekend get away. The pace was slow, everyone looked relaxed, locals were crabbing off of the edge of the walkway into the river and to top it of there fantastic little swimming spots in the centre of the town in the most magnificent blue water.
If I needed a mental break from life, this would easily be a top contender. After all, look at the perfect scenery below.
Our next stop was Fowey. I wished we had more time in this town. By the time we arrived, dusk was setting and most of the shops were closed. We reached Fowey by driving to Bodinnick and crossing by ferry to the town.
Fowey had a small town 'English' vibe to it. The houses looked cozy and the streets more narrower than the last. We spent some time walking down the narrow lanes, finding staircases that led to balcony's overlooking the river and finally ate dinner at the local pub.
I noticed as we got lower down Cornwall the towns kept getting prettier with an increasing vibe of feeling homely. The towns were all built around the water, which you will find is where I gravitate to most.
We drove to Redruth for our second night stop.
Day 2
The second day we made our way straight to Marazion. This was by far our favourite place that we visited. For starters, we begun our day buying a Cornish pasty for breakfast at the local and popular Philps Bakery which we then ate overlooking St Michael's Mount. Not a bad start!
St Michael's Mount is an island just off of Marazion with a medieval castle dominating the land. In low tide you can walk across a man made causeway to reach the island. In high tide you have no choice but to swim or catch a boat. In the 1900's over 200 people use to reside on this tiny island, now in the 21st century there is less than 50.
Today most of the locals work on the island gaining a living by the tourists (cafe's, restaurants and craft shops). They close down on a Sunday as a way to 'detract' the tourists and enjoy the tiny island to themselves. We however did not know this and came on a Sunday. Luckily the island is still accessible and we had a quick wander around, however I can confirm nothing was open.
We spent quite a bit of time in Marazion. We loved it there.
Our next stop was Lands End.
This we knew would be the ultimate Tourist trap, but we could not, not go! We avoided lining up and paying for a 'Land's End' picture and instead climbed across the rocks to the furthest point we could reach and what we classified as 'The End'. Now being a long weekend the place was drowning in tourists...however I am sure we fit in with the crowd as we stopped for a few too many pictures and purchased a small piece of memorabilia in the local tourist shop.
Besides looking out at Lands End, there is not a lot else to do except buy souvenirs or eat ice-cream. So it was a short but sweet visit.
St Ives was our last visit for the day. It 100% did not disappoint. St Ives definitely had the best beaches of all the towns that we visited which I think was a shared thought among hundreds of other people. It is very much a family destination with a lot of holiday homes overlooking the beach.
We spent quite a few hours here, soaking in the rays and enjoying a few cold beverages with our new found tan.
Day 3
As we had a long journey back to London and wanted to beat the crowds, we set off North up the coast with the privilege to stop at a few seaside towns and beaches as we went. We did end up a little off-road driving along one way country road that felt as if they were never going to end. Although the one way roads look pretty, the stop start in a manual is definitely taxing on anybody's nerves and patience. Consider carefully before you make this drive.
Our main stop on our final day was Croyde Bay.
This was another town that was quite popular for a weekend away for Brit's. There were a lot of caravan parks near the seafront which were accompanied by large fields to park in (for a small charge). We took a little walk around the town before making our way onto the beach.
We took a little stop at Ilfracombe which apparently comes with raving reviews. I am not sure if we just did not search hard enough here, but neither of us had great vibes about the place. We spent a couple of hours walking around to break up our drive back to London, but nothing jumped out at us which caught our eye. Except for a strange half mermaid, half lady statue which you can not miss.
During our weekend in Cornwall we were extremely lucky. The weather had absoultely showed up at an unusual high 20's/low 30's in mid April. It was so unusual in fact that this weather dissapeared after this weekend and did not show up again in England for a further month or two.
If you are visiting the UK or England and wish to visit Cornwall, the best time of year would be during the summer months of June - August. However you may just get lucky like us if you show up earlier or later.
Share with us your favourite places or photos from Cornwall whether you live or travel here.