Roadtrip!!!

This weekend, Kate and I rented a car and ventured out of Bristol down the coast to Cornwall.  We took Lex’s tent and our sleeping bags and jetted down the west coast through Exmoor national park and to New quay.  From there we continued down to Land’s End (the southern most point of Britain) and across to Penzance, then up to Torbay.  It was a gigantic 400 mile loop that we spread over three days.  We definitely had an adventure.  I must at this point say how grateful I am that Kate and I are such compatible travel companions.  I am truly lucky to have met such a cool girl on my journey.  We are able to laugh at about everything and we are both easy going about plans.  With that said the trip was an amazing success.  We got out of Bristol (YAY!!), out to the coast, which we are both missing terribly, and we were able to see new places.  We boogied out of town on Friday morning, destination New quay, and set off with adventure in sight.  The day was a bit too dismal to lounge around at the beach so we took our time touring.  Taking pictures along the way and then set up camp at a small farm that rented campsites for a modest £5 per night.  Stoked that we managed to set up our old-fashioned tent in record time, we headed out to town to check out the sights.  We ended our day sitting on the deck of an ocean front bar, sipping wine and checking out the outfits of club bound crowds and the seas of stag and hen parties that were stumbling about.  Here the bachelor parties are most often done in costume with guys and gals dressed up as the most interesting, and sometimes tacky, themes you can imagine.  For my male friends imagine a sea of women passing by you dressed as playboy bunnies, police women or even cowgirls.  The stags are just as creative, donning matching custom shirts with nicknames and funny logos, or grooms dressed in drag vying for their one last single man kiss. At the end of the night, Kate and I managed to get back to the campsite and to bed before the rain came.  It was pretty cool to sleep in a tent in the rain, although I acknowledge that it was only because our tent was waterproof that I was able to enjoy the experience at all.  The next night we stayed in a hostel.

Saturday we drove down to lands end at Kate’s request, just for a picture.  Lands End was a bit of a hole actually, which was quite disappointing because it had so much potential.  We avoided paying for entry and pulled over for a quick photo before heading to Penzance.  There was a small town called Porthcurno, with an amazing bay front open air theater, which Kate and I fell in love with.  The beach was lovely and nearly empty; the water was cool green and clear.  It was gorgeous.  Kate and I covered the most ground on Saturday; somehow we made it to St. Austell’s before the afternoon and spent some time at the Eden project.  I took loads of photos, it was very cool.  There was a moment as we ventured through the temperate biome that I had to stop and sit.  It was the moment that my senses took in the plants and scents of Southern California.  The powerful forces of aromatic memories, the sage and the brush that I had inhaled and known for the first 18 years of my life overtook me and I was nostalgic.   I can’t believe what powerful forces our olfactory senses hold in memory.  It was a very cool experience.

After cruising through Torbay and trying to find accommodation (we weren’t interested in setting the tent up in the rain), we were wet, miserable and over it.  I made the executive decision to blow Torbay and head to Exeter.  Exeter was not on the agenda, and there was not much to see there, but it was a city and we knew we could get accommodations, and most likely have a decent night out.  We pulled into the city at 7:30, had accommodations by 8:30 and we were showered, dressed and at the bar by 10:30.  Somehow, we found ourselves at a cheesy club by the name of Rococo’s, by the name we should have been warned, but the bar staff at the previous bar recommended it.  It was dreadfully awful.  All the women were banging around like they owned the place; the men were on the sidelines watching.  The DJ filled the club with fabulous club hits like: Ricky Martin Living La Vida Loca, and hip hop top forty from 2000.  Kate and I tried to make the most of it, we laughed and rolled our eyes; but by midnight we wrote off Exeter as a town with any decent night life and we boogied out of the club. Quite tragic actually!  On our way home we cruised past a second night club, also highly recommended.  We were greeted at the door with a £6 cover and techno house remix of the oldie but goodie “She’s an Uptown Girl”.  We just glanced at each other and continued down the street laughing.  The next day we took our time getting home.