Sue_xx_yy

Bilbo, I have read on the BBC that the water of Bracklesham Bay in West Sussex is warmer this hot summer than the water in Zuma Beach, California. And way up in Morecambe Bay, the water is warmer than most waters around Cornwall.

Alessandra, this report is wonderful. Thank you.

bilboburgler

Sue, this year we are baking, even in Yorkshire it is in the high 20s (C) while the soft south is above 30. If nothing else surely the Reps will believe in Climate change now?

Dschoening

Alessandra, I am SO very grateful for your incredible trip report. We are going to Cornwall this October, and so much of what you wrote is relevant and helpful to us. We are two couples around 70, and though we have varying degrees of health levels your descriptions of your travels give us so much useful information we will be well prepared! We are driving after our initial days in London, taking the car from London to Bath and then Cornwall (already booked at the Oceanic in Falmouth since March!) and back to LHR. But we are now convinced that our car is for getting to our stay-places in Bath and Falmouth, and we can use either public transport or a tour to get us to our chosen sights.

My husband will be doing the driving (he's the one in our family with the great sense of direction, like you) and he has no fear of it, having driven around Scotland recently with its one-lane roads. But your perspective made us realize it sounds perfect to just use the car for the long distances on good highways and leave the challenging stuff to locals.

Thank you so much for including many facets: scenery, sights, food, and accomodations - woven into a warm and personal narrative. I would love to read anything you write if you ever get the urge to do a book!

AlessandraZoe

Dschoening--I must say that I am so happy you will be using this report so soon. I was so often the grateful recipient of advice on this board, and I feel pressed to pay it forward, but do wonder who ends up using the one I'm writing. As time as gone on, though, I find I refresh my memory through some of my own reports, so that's something. And my youngest will be using my Trad Music and Hops report on Dublin for a business trip (!!!) this fall.

Have a wonderful time. Cornwall is so gorgeous.
AZ

AlessandraZoe

And to Annhig, and bilbogurgler, and 5alive and thursaysd--You guys kept me going. Sue_xx_yy--Thank you for the compliments. If I've forgotten anyone, just know that anyone who responded kept me inching forward.

annhig

hi DeSchoening,

I whole-heartedly agree with you about AlessandraZoe's TR having been incredible, but there are plenty of places that you may want to visit from Falmouth that a car will make easier, especially for 4 of you with what you describe as varying health levels. And by October most tourists should have gone home so the roads will be emptier. so I wouldn't rule it out entirely.

The other form of transport that you can take from Falmouth that AlessandraZoe didn't mention much are the boats. If the weather is good, a lovely trip can be had by taking the ferry across to St Mawes, wandering down to St Mawes Castle [the sister castle to Pendennis] and then having lunch or tea in one of the hotels. The Tresanton is excellent and does a fabulous cream tea, or you might prefer the Idle Rocks. You can also do boat trips down the Helford [not sure if they are still running in October] or up the Carrick Roads [the name of the estuary] to Trelissick [NT house and gardens]. Some boats go all the way to Truro but it's not the quickest way to get there - that's definitely the train.

If there's anything you want to ask - go ahead!

MaineGG

AZ - Thank you so much for your wonderful trip report. Since my niece and her family have relocated from London to coastal Dorset, I've been contemplating a visit to the Jurassic Coast and Cornwall. We will not be driving, so your train and bus information is particularly valuable.

AlessandraZoe

For information on Falmouth in general, including ferry times, a map and other things, we used the "Falriver" website, which is excellent: https://www.falriver.co.uk/ The St Mawes line runs year round.
My husband, unfortunately, hates ferries.
AZ

AlessandraZoe

Dschoening--I just finished a Wycliffe crime fiction novel--not one of his best--that's set in the Falmouth area: "Wycliffe and the Windsor Blue". It's not one of the best, but it really does give you a sense of how the "main drag" as we say in the States consists of three different streets. Wycliffe's wife takes ferries in this novel and does a lot of walks that I would have liked!

The other important note for Falmouth is that the Oceanic may be only a short uphill from the rail station, but that location makes walking most places along the harbor a steep descent and then a steep ascent back. That was not any difficulty for my athletic 73-yr-old husband (GRRRR). Even for me, the born librarian, the climbs were fine, except the heat got to me. I'm hoping October will give you fewer problems from heat, but inclines do not disappear. Still I think that driving down and parking is insane. Perhaps driving up to Pendennis, should you wish to go, would make sense, though.

annhig

You highlight something important that I had omitted AZ - Falmouth can be a very steep place! [Did you find Jacob's Ladder? - a series of flights of steps going up out of the Moor to a pub at the top ? I've only done it once and that was enough!]

The "main drag" which goes all the way from Events Square by the Maritime Museum to the Moor is more or less flat, but all the streets leading off it go upwards [or down into the water - take your pick!]

Have you ever seen the Wycliffe TV series? - one minute they are in Falmouth, the next they are in St Ives and the court scenes were filmed in the Council Chamber in Penzance - it gets very confusing trying to spot the locations. But fun to watch, and it has a very strong sense of place, nonetheless.

Dschoening

Allessandra, thank you for all the 'extras' that will add to our trip experience, and we are happy with ferries and novels. Our husbands are both the physically better off of us four, but we women have intermittent days of knee and feet issues - we pretend we are fine, of course, and we LOOK fit (!) so we ignore it as best we can. Thanks for incline warning, I think it will be ok. Will we be wanting to walk to dinner restaurants?

We are assuming no need for a/c in October in Cornwall, but these days, who know?

Dschoening

Annhig, I posted earlier on the forum when I started planning in January, and I am so thankful for the information I got. Unfortunately some health issues got in the way so I stopped visiting the forum after I got all our (cancelable) bookings finished, but I am back again and will be grateful for your Cornwall expertise in coming days. Thank you for the kindness you show in posting here.

AlessandraZoe

Deschoning--Women after my own heart! I blame everything on birthing--you know, quite-short labors and humungous babies--so that I can guilt my ever-fit husband who never had time to "coach" me in labor because he was too busy trying to park the darn car.

Back to the obvious...
You can walk to all restaurants. The Oceanic is at one end of town--near the Maritime Museum end--but it's easy to descend and walk to all restaurants, no matter how distant, along the "main drag". Out of gas after dinner? Taxi!

As I've hinted, I grew up in a river town, and I lived about two miles above the road, where the town was, that ran alongside the river. Walking hills was my normal because I grew up in a one-car family. My married suburban life in the "Mom-Car" meant artificial fitness (the gym), but I'm back to walking hills again once we went urban. City hills feel right. I noticed that most people in Cornwall seemed pretty fit. That's indeed what hills do.

Annhig--Ah, I did not know the Jacob's Ladder existed. Good thing. My husband would have done them (I would have deferred to a nearby bar). Twenty years ago, we would have done these with our kids on a time watch. Yep, scary family. I am trying to find the Wycliffe series on US TV online service. Poldark and Doc Martin are easy to get; this one is harder.

Kay2

Love your trip report!
We also try to travel without driving wherever possible and did so on our recent trip surrounding London.
I thought our senior Britrail London Plus Pass ($170 for 4+1 days and $236 for 8+1 days) were a good value because of the flexibility and the number of days fit.
I also use the Google maps download feature for local navigation. I was disappointed I couldn't use it for recent Korean trip.

I'll definitely save your post for planning a future trip to Cornwall. Not enough time on recent trip.

thursdaysd

Surprised to read that. I used google maps successfully in Korea a couple of years ago, but I didn't try the download feature (I have foreign coverage through my regular T-Mobile plan).

AlessandraZoe

Kay2--Our days with the 15 +1 fit exactly, too. Only happenstance, not great planning.

Were the prices you mentioned for 2? If so, you really got a deal. One of the things I mentioned was that we just did not use our passes every applicable day, something I could have avoided had a had a more precise trip plan. But my husband felt and still feels the ability to change his mind on a whim was totally worth that.

Something we did not mention was that while the process of free seat reservations required an in-person visit to a station, there was no drudgery because all the window agents were DELIGHTFUL.

As far as Google Maps--just a few years ago, Kay2, Google Maps did not have any offline option. I used the MapsWithMe app, and it worked fine, even in Venice. The fact that Google must have bought their technology has been wonderful. For those who don’t know, the offline maps don’t provide directions, but they can tell you where you are and locate a point where you want to go.

Iwan2go

AlessandraZoe

Iwan2go--How kind of you to comment, and I'm so happy you are going to use the information. I sometimes wondered about the energy it was taking to write it, but then I remembered how useful these trip reports, both mine and others, have been to me for planning and re-planning itineraries. By the way, I always felt back about the strange punctuation that appeared in much of the journal. For some reason, the iPad that I used while my granddaughter arrived on this earth created strange markings, even when I'd use Advanced Mode to double check it.

Reflection is good, too, don't you think? It's been wonderful to re-read trip reports to see how hard some trips were for me before and shortly after a hip replacement; now, even with some other health problems, I can see that I can do so much more than just five years ago.

Anyway, if you will be visiting Cornwall, please do consult our report for this year's adventure: DONE!!—Devon, Cornwall and Northern Ireland Without Renting a Car We got to go to Exeter, Devon on this one (I could not fit it in last year), plus stay in the St. Austell/Charlestown area, along with enjoying three stunning days of the Falmouth International Sea Shanty Festival.

Happy Planning,
AZ

Iwan2go

Wow, thank you, I’ll check out your other report! I have a long list of places we’d love to see.

We did drive in the UK on our first overseas trip, in 1989 - then it was fine, but now, no way. My husband has driven in Italy (I was totally impressed with his passing/return to the slow lane skills), Spain (where on EARTH are the street signs in Seville), and France (no problem). We primarily use trains now; why invite additional stress.

Libretto2