That song was stuck in my head the entire weekend because for the first time I got to go on a midnight train - going annnnnnyyyyyywhhhhheeeerrrrrreee!! Actually I did know where it was going but it was still fun to pretend! James (a city boy) and me (a small-ish town girl) decided to spend the weekend down in Cornwall, more specifically Penzance.
I didn't get the chance to visit Cornwall with my group of friends when they had been down there the year before so I was really excited to get down and see what everyone was raving about. I was also looking forward to a summery beach holiday and was excited about the thought of actually swimming in the ocean for the first time in over a year!
James had told me that I had a surprise waiting for me the day we went to Cornwall and even though I had been nagging him to tell me for weeks he didn't give in. By the time 11pm came around I had sort of worked out what the surprise might be and thought it was such a cool thing to go on a midnight train. Little did I know the surprise went further and he had actually booked us on a first class sleeper! The little cabin was so cute! Each little room had its own sink, bed, tv and came with a toiletries bag! We had a personal attendant who we could call at any time and we were welcome to go dine in our own dining cart. The best part was that we got breakfast (bacon sandwich and a cup of tea) bought to us first thing in the morning. The train goes slower with very few stops so when you wake up about 7am for breakfast you have an hour to freshen up before arriving at your destination. It is my new favourite way to travel and when you consider you get your transport and nights accommodation included its pretty cheap!
Once we arrived we had to wait to check in but we dumped our bags and went for a walk along the promenade. About five seconds into our walk it poured down with rain so we decided to give up on our stroll and find somewhere to have a cuppa and a snack. As it was still pretty early and not much was open we found a little place to sit and wait out the weather. It started to clear up a bit and a lot more shops opened up so we wandered the cute little streets and checked out a few of the shops. There were lots of cute little op shops and fresh fruit stores as well as a few of the usual stores. We killed time until about 11am when we were due to get the bus out to Minack Theatre.
As we were walking up to the theatre from the bus stop it started pouring with more rain. My sunny beachy weekend hopes were dashed by this stage and it was all we could do to just stay dry. We were determined to check out more of the area though so we soildered on through the rain and wandered up to the Minack Theatre. The theatre is built into the side of a cliff which over looks the sea and beaches nearby. Unluckily for us they weren't showing anything the night we were there and while we were there they had blocked it off so they could set up a new show. That meant we didn't get to see the whole thing but the views from up there and just checking out the theatre were amazing - especially as the sun had finally come out!
We wandered around the theatre and checked out the museum dedicated to the lady who built it and the past shows that had been put on there. One day I would love to go back and see 'The Tempest' which was the first show put on there. We were intending to take a walk along the coast front down to Lands End which would take us about an hour and a bit but by pure coincidence the bus that ran twice a day from Minack Theatre down to Lands End arrived as we were walking past the bus stop. We jumped on because we weren't sure what the weather was going to do and it would mean we could get there quicker.
Once we got to Land's End we wandered down to the famous signpost that signals that you are the very bottom tip of the UK. As we got there so did five antique tractors who had made the journey from John O'Groats in Scotland all the way down to Land's End. There was also a black cab taxi who did the drive from top to bottom in 30 hours without using a GPS or highway. Crazy! We took the token photo underneath the sign before heading to a little shop to grab a cornish pasty. I had been told that they aren't the same unless as you have one in Cornwall. I've got to say that I didn't really notice the difference but it was really yummy all the same!
By this stage we had been out most of the day so we were ready to head back to our hotel and finally check in. By another stroke of luck with busses we managed to catch and open top bus back to Penzance. The weather had stayed bright and sunny which made for a really pretty bus ride home checking out all the countryside that we had missed on our first rainy bus trip there.
After checking in and freshening up we headed back out to dinner to a little resturant nearby. It was an italian resturant complete with red and white checkered table clothes and a waitress with a heavy accent. We drank some really yummy red wine and ate a really yummy italian meal before wandering into the centre of town to check out the nightlife in Penzance. Errr... well.. there isn't really much of a nightlife as most of the places are just little pubs but we did find one bar and wandered in. We grabbed a drink (which by the way is soooooooooo cheap compared to London) and people watched around the bar. The funniest thing was about the place that there were very few females in the bar. At one point there were over 25 men standing in front of me and I couldn't see another girl in the bar at all. Definitely a bit of a sausage-fest! As it wasn't really a raging nightlife James and I decided to call it a night.
The next day we went and found a little cafe and had a Cornish cream tea and a Cornish pasty for breakfast - couldn't have gotten any more Cornish food into that meal unless we had Cornish ice cream too! By coincidence James's Mum was on holiday down in Cornwall too so we met up with her and walked along the beach down to St Michael Mount which is an island off the coast of Penzance that you can only walk to when the tide is out. We wandered over and had a quick walk around the grounds before taking cover from the rain in a cafe and having lunch.
Unfortunately for us the weekend went quickly before we knew it, it was time to get back on the train and head back to London. We stocked up on nibblies and jumped on the train and settled in for the 5 hour journey with a good book each. The weekend had been heaps of fun - I love checking out other parts of England and one day I would love to head back down to a different part of Cornwall and hopefully get to the beach!
1 comment:
My favourite weekend ever! x
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