We had nothing but more geocaches planned for today, and decided to stay local, in order to spend more time with the family. The day wasn’t without its moments of exploration and discovery, though, as we took in two new Cornish destinations.
Heading out first to Portwrinkle, some treasure had been hidden on a cliff path overlooking the sea, but we were unlucky this time around. No matter how hard we looked, read the extra clues again, and paced out our steps to the supposed hiding place, the stash remained hidden. The village itself was nice enough, though, with the remains of its 17th century pilchard cellars down on the grey sand beach, and the coastal and cliff walks, weaving their was through the largely unspoilt countryside.
Portwrinkle
Stumped by the first cache, we decided to cut our losses and drive back to the coastal town of Saltash to hunt out the second. We found the place easy enough, but were to be disappointed again, as children were playing in the dried-up river right where the GPS told us the treasure was hidden. Time wasn’t on our side, so deciding to possibly return, we headed back to the holiday cottage to enjoy a family lunch.
The town of Saltash is nice enough, though not as scenic as some of the places we’ve been. In fact, the thing of most interest to us was the railway bridge gracefully spanning the river Tamar. Built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and opened in 1859 by Prince Albert, it is beautiful in an industrial, functional sort of a way. Actually an iron suspension bridge in two spans, it still carries trains and their passengers before they snake their way through the ever-changing Cornish countryside of lush green fields, trees, rivers and viaducts.
It’s worth noting that the much modern Tamar Bridge which sits alongside Brunel’s is nowhere near as striking to look at. Built as recently as 1961 for cars and pedestrians, it put the river’s ferries out of business, but at the same time gives many more drivers and walkers an easier entry point into the county.
(I’m afraid there are no pictures of the Brunel’s Royal Albert Bridge, as when we did try to capture it on camera, the lighting wasn’t the best, eve though it had been all week.)
Our activities for tomorrow have much the same familiarity about them. Staying local again for our final full day, we intend to introduce the family to the countryside tramping that is geocaching, at a reportedly easy find at Pillaton (and maybe fitting in another one in back at Saltash), before enjoying the rest of the day. The end of our time away has come so quickly, but we can’t say that we haven’t made the most of the days we’ve had here. We’ve seen some stunning scenery and been to some remarkable places, all of which have left us with handfuls of memories to take home.
It’s been a truly relaxing break in every sense of the word, and although we have next week holidaying at home, it will still be sad to leave on Monday morning. I didn’t really know what I expected Britain’s most south western corner to offer, but I do know that it didn’t disappoint. And, I’m pretty sure of one thing; we’ll undoubtedly be back.