Lancs & Cornwall 06
Day 11 -
Monday 25 Sep. 2006 - After a couple days playing on the beach we decided
to take a break to try something different. We searched through some
of the literature we found stacked up in the cottage and decided on a
new destination. We decided to go to Lizard Point, the southern
most point in the UK. Neither Andy or I have been there before
so it was the first thing we did together that was completely new to
the both of us; a unique memory that belongs to us both!
 We set off before lunch time and went to way of the King Harry Ferry.
I really enjoyed going across the ferry, but I think that Andy was
getting a little annoyed with me wanting to take enough photographs of
the ferry to create a mini-movie of it traveling back and forth across
the River Fal but even his grim comments didn't diminish my enjoyment.
As usual once the ferryman had collected our fare I got out of the car
and started to wander around. I was conscience of Andy's
previous frowns when reaching for the camera, I decided not to keep
the camera on unless I saw something new or interesting to photograph.
This time I was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a large grey seal
trailing behind the Ferry. I tried to turn the camera on
quickly, however my camera was very slow to boot up and just as I was
taking the photo, the seal had just dove under the water and all I
was able to get was a photo the wake it left behind. I was
hoping that it would surface again soon so I could get a good picture
of it but alas we were approaching the landing bay and I had to return
to the car so that we wouldn't keep traffic waiting. This was
the first time I had ever seen a grey seal and wish that I had more
time to observe the animal since it looked so huge.
Once we disembarked from the ferry we continued on our way to the
lizard. I was in high spirits because Andy had mentioned that there
was a good chance of seeing more unique animals at the lizard then
anywhere else in Cornwall. I couldn't wait to get there.
 As
anyone will know you can't possibly drive around anywhere in the world
for an entire two weeks without coming across at least one
construction zone and up until this point we had been fairly
lucky and avoided the hassle. However all good things must come
to and end. A trip that should have taken us about a half hour
ended up taking nearly an hour as we had to crawl through construction
zones with a 20mph speed limit posted yet not one construction worker
in site for about the journey only to have the dramatic conclusion of
a 15 minute wait just near the end of the construction zone while a
couple dump trucks backed up and blocked traffic coming from both
directions. While it was nice to see some more of the open
Cornish county side I think that I would have preferred seeing it at a
little higher speeds. I did notice the the fields and rolling
hills reminded me of the rural farm country in Southern Ontario with
the exception of the fields being divided by tall hedge rows instead
of the page-link fences I'm more familiar with.
As we continued driving, I could tell that we were
getting close as the roads were getting narrower and the hedges were
getting higher on each side of us. We drove through a little
town that seems to have appeared for the sole purpose of supplying
tourists with as many souvenirs as absolutely possible! After
the town was the approach to Lizard itself which was a tiny one car
lane with many parking lots along the way that were already jam packed
with cars. I tried to park in one of them but we saw right away that
we were in jeopardy of becoming trapped should someone decide to even
enter the lot behind us. I slowly turned the car around and just
as we were about to drive out of the lot and see if there was a place
to park further along someone else decided to pull into the drive
right in front of us. Neither one of us had anywhere to go since
there was a long row of traffic close behind the person who pulled
into the lot so I had to back up enough for the person to squeeze by
me and quickly pull forward again to stop anyone else from entering
and everyone becoming well and truly stuck!
We finally made it out of the lot and continued
driving right down to the Most Southerly Cafe lot where we were lucky
enough to find a parking spot albeit on a fairly steep angle.
This time I didn't mind that Andy double checked to make sure the
parking break was engaged and I made sure that I angled the wheels in
such a way that if the car did start to roll backwards that it would
head back up the hill again and not off the steep high cliff behind
us. It's amazing how those little rules from drivers
training comes back to you in such circumstances!.
 Once
we were relatively safely parked, it was time to get out and wander
around. One thing to note, if you are afraid of heights then you
probably wont like being at the lizard as to me it felt like the land
around you was conspiring to lure you to the edges of the cliffs and
dump you off. It's not a place to wander around in the wet grass
as one slip will bring you perilously close to the edge.
On the other hand, the view is magnificent and would
be absolutely stunning to see the sunrise or sunset while we were
there. The cliffs were very steep and intimidating but also full
of character and had a surprising variety of life on them as well.
There were lots of birds of many different varieties around as well.
It would have been great to have a good camera to take some photos of
the many different species we saw.
After wandering around for a while we decided to have
our lunch in the cafe since it was a little windy out and the clouds
started getting a little darker then we would have liked.
However most of the tables inside the cafe were already taken so we
reluctantly decided to have our dinner outside on one of the picnic
tables. I chose one that was fairly close to the edge so we
could keep an eye out in the harbour for any animals that may appear
in the water and so that we could watch the birds flying around the
cliffs below us. Upon sitting down at our chosen table Andy
quickly realised that I had neglected an important criteria in my
careful deliberations. Like everywhere else at the lizard, even
the dining area was on a precarious slope so that the person sitting
on the downhill side of the table felt constantly threatened of being
dumped backwards over the edge of the cliff and the person sitting on
the uphill side of the table had the impression that one sudden move
from the person on the other side would hurl them over the table and
over the edge of the cliff. Andy, who was sitting on the
downhill side of the table, quickly assumed a death grip on the table
and looked like he would never be able to let it go. The grip
was so tight that his knuckles turned white and the look of fear on
his face sent me into fits of laughter so forceful that it threatened
to toss us both over the edge (both physically and mentally).
Click here to see more of today's photos.
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