DONE!!—Devon, Cornwall and Northern Ireland Without Renting a Car
 

We have just completed a lovely 18-day trip in the UK, spending three nights in Exeter, Devon before moving on to a bit of Cornwall and then flying to Northern Ireland. Planes, trains, buses and a few taxis were our modes of transport.

We had visited much of Cornwall in June 2018 (see that trip report), so this time we wanted to see one or two places we had missed last year and return to a lovely Falmouth event, the Falmouth International Sea Shanty Festival.

But before we got to Falmouth, we wanted to check out Exeter, Devon because one set of my great-great grandmothers and grandfathers had been born in the nearby Honiton area. Last year we had found my husband's great grandfather's birthplace in Alturnan, Cornwall; this time, I got in my own ancestry research day(s).

We then flew to Northern Ireland from Newquay, Cornwall. This first-time visit to Northern Ireland followed many past trips to the Republic of Ireland.

Thus, this trip report will cover the following areas:

• Exeter, Devon (side trip to Honiton area)
• Falmouth, Cornwall
• St Austell/Charlestown, Cornwall
• Coastal Causeway, Northern Ireland
• Derry, Northern Ireland
• Belfast, Northern Ireland

Along the way, I’ll report on some of my background reading, our cell phone SIM choices, some of the packing and travel tools we used, and some of our general observations. I also will be adding a lot of notes on some great IPA beers we drank along the way for any fans of hops who read this post.

I am grateful to many on this board who not only helped me plan this trip but who also boosted my spirits when health issues started creating obstacles even before we departed. God Bless all of you.

Next: Why Don’t We Rent a Car?

So Why Don't We Rent a Car?
 

So what’s up with not renting a car? Everyone knows that’s really the way to see a country, right?

All I can tell you is that not renting a car is a choice we started making over 20 years ago after exploring the Loire, France area. As we turned the car back into the rental place, my husband, normally a calm, mellow guy, turned to me, the family trip planner, and said, “I want to make this clear—I never, ever, ever want to drive in a non-US country again. Please make that happen.”

And thus, I pretty much design most of our yearly adventures around public transport. A recent poster on another thread (not mine) used this statement, “I can’t imagine not renting a car…” To paraphrase the famous line of the movie A Field of Dreams, “If you build it, they will come”, if you imagine it, you can make it happen. That’s one reason for my trip reports: I would like to help people who would like to imagine not renting a car, people who hope to find another feasible way to explore a country or an area.

Yes, we ended up renting a car in Costa Rica (something I would NOT do again because now I know how to solve transport there quite easily) and we also rented a car in the North Island during our last week of a three-week adventure in New Zealand, a rental which even my husband thought worked out well. But other than that, most of our major trips have now involved public transport and extensive cycling miles.

With that end in mind, I’ll explode a few myths or assumptions…

“Renting a car costs more than using public transport” or conversely “Renting a car eventually costs less than using public transport”

All I can say is that cost is NOT a reason our choice and both above statements can be proven to be true or false. All associated costs depend on where one is and what one is doing. For the most part, UK and European cities have enough relatively cheap public transport that make car rentals fiscally unwise and impractical. Going outside of cities by public transport or alternative methods requires a little creativity that either can be ultra cheap or rather costly.

“Renting a car simplifies travel” or “If you don’t rent a car, you deny yourself flexibility”

Getting from Point A to Point B by public transport can be a bit complicated in some locations. But we can also tell you that once we get to Point B, we never have to find a parking space, often a very troublesome travel issue.

And we never have to worry about not knowing local roads, local driving rules or driving under the influence. Our dimming eyesight will not contribute to a fatal accident, nor will we ever again be caught driving the wrong way on a one-way street. And we can close down as many bars as we’d like!

Not having a car can make having good accommodation research and reservations even more essential. If the reserved B&B or hotel isn’t up to snuff, it may be tougher to make alternative arrangements work. Yet we’ve easily packed up and “gotten out of Dodge” several times without having a car parked outside the door; indeed, we created a back-up plan on the spot for this most recent trip.

And having a good transport pass can make one’s journeys amazingly flexible and extremely open to serendipity. Because most of our time is spent traveling with locals, we consistently are open to and easily receive “on the ground” advice and adjust our day’s travel accordingly.

NEXT: Embarking! Getting to London!

oh how lovely to find this. Really looking forward to reading about your trip [though not the health issues you refer to!]

On Our Way! Flying to London
 

We started our overseas transport from Atlanta GA (not our home city) for the same reason we did last year: I used every darn scrap of American Airlines FF miles to book First Class seats on a late evening British Airways flight.
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Note on our FF Miles:
My husband still racks up a ton of miles flying for his work, plus we fly on AA to visit our only grandchild, a trip we take almost monthly now. I have two credit cards (one a legacy from the original US Airways) that earn me AA miles, and I make sure I pay by card, not cash, for even the smallest transactions whenever possible. In fact, my phone's Samsung Pay app certainly pushes that practice forward. My groceries and pharmacy purchases and automatic monthly online charity donations can add up, and usually we can both be pushed up to a mile-earning level that earns us a even more miles per flight. I pay careful attention to mileage bonuses and award sales. My ultimate goal is to snag a Business or even First lie-flat bed at the cost of regular airfare on one international trip per year. Our actual departure and return dates are based on the availability of those seats for the fewest miles. Yep, date flexibility plays a huge part in all of this, and we are very grateful for both the time and fiscal options open to us even as our advancing age shuts down so many other travel options. We certainly remember what it was like to fly in the middle of the last rows of super economy in years of yore. We were grateful then just for the opportunity to travel, no matter how hard; now we are even more grateful that the opportunity of a few more hours of sleep and less pooled blood in our feet has helped keep us "on the road".
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We UBERed to ATL more than three hours early, a good idea because much of TSA was backed up by inoperable scanners and lots of people with many children and those associated belongings. Our goal was to eat in the International terminal at Ecco, whose menu had looked good to us last year. Sadly, it turned out our orders were not that good. We had not planned to use the The Club, the ATL Business/First lounge, which, as any FlyerTalk.com reviewer will tell you, is iffy at best. I did dip into its restroom before we left. Yep, same old, same old--The Club toilets were filthy and trashed overflowed the waste bins. The public restrooms were much better.

I am not whining, though. We certainly could have eaten very well on the flight, but the reason we try to get a lie-flat bed is to sleep. Having chosen seats on opposite sides of the plane--my husband and I get along just fine, but we are long past the need to be glued at the hip--we individually told our flight attendants that we were skipping service and heading straight for our covers. On this trip, I was lucky enough to be surrounded by professionals who must regularly fly to Dubai or India. There was none of the “Can I change my seats to sit next to my spouse?” on this flight. By the time I got into my BA pajamas and returned to slide down my BA sleep mask, it was nighty-night for all around me.

Once we landed at Heathrow, our entry was greatly facilitated by the new expansion of the eGate system. We made our way to the BA Arrivals Lounge. Since the place shuts down around 2 pm, we were very happy that this year, our flight had not been delayed and our entry line had been so minimal; we could easily make full use of it. We had time to take a quick shower there and graze on breakfast items and coffee. I used this time and space to install my Orange Holiday SIM (I’ll discuss that in a later blurb). We slightly repacked our belongings to make our upcoming train trip easier and then headed to the Heathrow Express to Paddington.

Next: Getting to Exeter by Rail

I dislike the hassle of public transport but I do understand that some Americans find driving in a non US country stressful, especially the UK.

Getting to Exeter by Rail
 

I made a poor fiscal decision this year: I bought two BritRail South West Senior passes again, this time for a shorter time period. Last year, buying these passes was a WONDERFUL decision: we were doing something by rail, often two or more rides, almost every day, and if we "lost" any money in the process, the flexibility more than made up for it. This year, my purchase ended up not making much sense because I changed my Cornwall plans so much after the non-refundable purchase for a variety of reasons, and this time, we were rarely off on multiple daily adventures in Cornwall.

Nevertheless, there are two great things about the passes: 1) one never has to queue up or even pre-book a ride, a fact that is especially helpful if a plane is delayed and one’s advance train purchase becomes useless and 2) the Heathrow Express to Paddington is included in the pass. We just had to show the gate agent to get to the Express train from Heathrow.

Past experiences were helpful. At least this time we knew exactly where the Heathrow to Paddington train was located, and once arriving in Paddington, we knew immediately which kiosk would validate our passes for the rest of the trip. Since were not wandering around lost in the station this time, we were able to snag a quick beer before getting on an express Paddington to Penzance train, trains that depart around three minutes after each hour, usually from Platform 4, and take around 2 hours and a few minutes to the Exeter St Davids stop.

Next: SIM Card, Phone Plan, Electronic Gadgets

Odin, I would say that only planes were our hassle this time, and not because of any delays. There is just so much lining up and waiting to go to the next line just to wait, etc, involved in flying now. Otherwise, when we hit obstacles in our various transport modes, finding the solutions was been part of the fun.

Yes, I did do a lot of advance research that headed off major woes; having dual phone connectivity solved most other worries within minutes.

My husband is such a dear. Early on in our marriage, he, who was a veteran of using a train pass throughout Europe in the 60s, told me that the lesson he had to learn via his far more cultured friends was the difference between "vacation" and "travel". The first term says one expects a period with little to no problems; the second term creates a new set of challenges. He had been an excellent golfer--he's not bad even now in his advanced years--yet he has never sought out the typical resort vacation for his family; indeed, when I once "gifted" him one, he was upset. He wanted his kids to be challenged at all times. Of course, that meant I had to meet the challenges first. His response: "I fell for you because you were really smart." Ah, the way to my heart.

Oh Annhig, Thursdaysd, and Macross (who has not responded yet, but I bet he/she will), I always felt you guys were with me every step of the way on this trip. Thank you.

Staying Connected and Wired: SIM Card or Phone Plan? Adaptors and Gadgets Galore
 

I swear we try out a new means of staying connected with every trip now, and new technology means travel by public transport is so much easier than just a few years ago. Google Maps now provides a lot of public transport information, and I had installed local apps for this trip that could fill in any gaps in before we left.

We still are bringing too much equipment along with us now, but the sum total is so much lighter in weight than it used to be, and lighter weight is indeed what makes public transport one of our travel options.

I remember years when I was lugging not only adapters but also converters. I often was packing away an American CDMA cell phones and pulling out cheapie GSM phones (and their unique cords!) once I landed. And then we’d have to buy a local SIM.

On how many trips did I lug a dual voltage hairdryer and a specific separate camera charger for a separate camera? Heck, once upon a time, my luggage was also weighed down with books. If you understand that we only used to do carry-on luggage—and we still pack with that mentality—then you understand that my suitcase had little room for actual clothes. I often had to wear a Scottevest and layers of outerwear onto the plane to make our minimal packing possible. I once wore my hiking boots on the plane for our hiking trip to Switzerland.

On this trip we carried…

• Samsung Android phones (mine is a Galaxy Note)
• Small iPads
• My Paperwhite Kindle
• Mu international charger/adaptors (they can be taken apart and fit flat into shirt pockets. I got mine through Amazon)
• 3-in-one retractable adaptors (no more bringing separate cords for my iPad, my Kindle, and my Android phone. I got these on Amazon, and I made sure to buy some for my daughters and their significant others, too.)
• Ear buds

And that’s it. My husband and I still debate our carrying our iPads. It’s likely on our next trip that I won’t bring mine because a) I do all my novel reading on my Kindle and b) my Samsung Galaxy Note is pretty large. My husband will strongly consider not bringing his iPad, even though that’s where he does all of his reading and his Samsung phone is considerably smaller. Other than that decision, I don’t foresee our future electronics packing to shift much.

What will change will be our phone plans. My husband, since he still must be connected to work, changed his Verizon plan to International. I tested out a I bought on Amazon, a SIM which gave me 20 GB of internet data, 120 minutes of phone calls, and 1000 texts in 30 countries in Europe.

At the end of the 14 days, I topped off the plan online, and I’ll have that number for six months, at which time I can do a cheap top-off again. I had no problems installing and activating the SIM, mainly because I took the time to read about all the problems others had had and wrote myself a long list of directions and hints that I put in a plastic sleeve along with the SIM card. After putting the SIM into my phone in the BA Arrivals Lounge, I booted the phone up and quickly changed the APN settings. Everything went without a hitch.*

My husband was really impressed, and it’s likely that since our next trip will be after he retires, he’ll just do the same.

*A reviewer on one of the Orange SIM sites had a great experience with a Vodaphone card he bought on ebay, so be sure to check out that very cheap option too!

Just a note for other seniors planning a fair amount of train travel in Britain - I recommend the Senior Railcard over the passes - https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times...46540.aspx#SNR

Also, on the phone issue I have had a month-by-month deal (now with a senior discount) from T-Mobile for years. I get unlimited text and low speed data in multiple foreign countries. I still travel with a phone (currently a Moto G6 after my Samsung S5 died, I want one small enough to fit in my hand), an iPad (for blogging and reading) and a real camera.

I am so with you on the lie flat seats, getting enough FF miles for front of the plane is the only reason I have a Citibank MC. Also, lounges with showers....

Lol. I travel with hiking boots, not for hiking but because I need the ankle support. I always wear them on the plane (well, onto the plane, I take them off and put extra socks on once I board). BTW, I now have Global Entry, which gets me TSA Pre, which does speed things up at the airport.

Our First Night in Exeter
 

We arrived at our first real destination of the trip, Exeter St Davids, around 5 pm. Our hotel, the Headweir Mill House, was less than a mile from the station along the rather busy, but quite level, Bonhay Rd. Our easy walk, however, was made a little more difficult by rain, wind and plummeting temperatures.

Upon arriving, we were greeted quite from a make-shift receptionist station in a hallway corner. We were led to our room, which was down a short but rather treacherous and curving flight of stairs to the basement. I took one look and said, "Can we get help with our luggage?" The receptionist drafted a nice guy from the adjoining pub restaurant, the separate establishment, Mill on the Exe.

I believe our room was Room 1. I need to warn you that the photos for our booking on Booking.com* were only half accurate (for example, there was certainly no bathtub and separate shower in our bathroom) and it was quite a dark room with strange lighting.

*I believe the "we only have one room left" thing on Booking.com and other booking sites is now being challenged in court, so dismiss that "one room left" claim and dismiss the implication this is some luxurious suite with a river view. There may be a sort of bait-and-switch going on, but I am reluctant to level that charge.

If I booked here (and it's not a bad location choice by any means), I would follow up with these pointed questions:

• on what level is my room?
• please describe my bathroom?

for starters to make sure you are getting the room in any picture.

I had booked Harry's Restaurant for dinner but my husband and I were exhausted and not up for the 20 minute walk, much of it uphill. Instead, we voted to cancel and drift over to the adjoining Mill on the Exe restaurant, where the meals had been rated as rather average. They let us sit at a large table with a river view. We were delighted with our meal selections. Any place where I can order a side of roasted root vegetables makes me a fan and any place my husband can order a St. Austell Proper Job makes him a fan.

Afterwards, we made it down the strange steps to our room without injury and were quickly asleep.

Next: A Rare Sleep-In and Our Day Exploring Exeter

I was under the impression that Senior Railcards were only available to UK citizens. However, since your post, Thursdaysd, I have just explored that further, and found this information.

We are not at the point of having T-Mobile yet because connectivity is still an issue in places where we live most of the time. Hard to believe, right? My husband's office demands that he keeps Verizon, cost and all, but that issue does not impact my plan at all. I have another issue--keeping my deceased mother's Verizon phone line up so her elderly sister can still her voice and pretend to talk to her. Yeah, THAT's a toughie I don't see going away soon.

Note that we DO have Global Entry and TSA Precheck--heck we also have CLEAR, all of which are worth a lot when traveling throughout and re-entering the US. Having those designations, however, has meant nothing in the UK; hence we welcomed the Heathrow eGates over our FastTrack entry last year. What a world of time difference!

I can't wear hiking boots anymore however. I have to have a certain type of heel for the Achilles tendonitis and a certain type of forefront design for the darn bunions (thank you, Mom!) that makes the New Balance FuelCore Coast 3 or 4 perfect for me when I pair those with arch supports and Achilles compression wear. Unfortunately, NB has decided NOT to continue that line. Egads! When these wear out, I'm done.

I brought folding hiking poles with me this time though. More on those later, I promise!

I'm surprised you could still book two first class tickets with miles. We had no trouble doing it back in 2000 and 2006 but when we were planning a trip in 2016, also on AA miles, my husband and I considered flying business or first and throwing the kids back in economy. But they only offered one upper class seat per flight so we couldn't. I remember stalking the website expertflyer.com because they list how many award seats are available per flight and it never opened up to more than one. Maybe it is seasonal since we flew in the summer? So I'm very jealous!!

Adelaidean
Yep, I made sure to buy these adapters for my sister and her husband and my two girls and their husbands for Xmas/birthdays. When we went to Paris for Xmas, I only took one US "half" and the Europe "half". On this trip, I took the US "half" and the UK "half". They don't add one ounce of excess weight to my luggage, plus their dual USB ports work quite well. Knowing I can get on a train with the parts flat in my pockets is such a bonus.

The 3-in-1 cords I love simply because without my glasses, I couldn't see which USB cord I needed to pull out the backpack to charge something. Now I only have to pull whatever USB cord is on top--and it's always the "right" one. Heck, I can feel the correct tip if need be. My two techie sons-in-law love them just as much as I do.

Wait until I do my blurb on doing in-hotel-room laundry. I have two new items this year I added to my packing list, and they were MARVELOUS. My little sis and my daughters/spouses will be getting gifted with these, too. I'll keep you in suspense. :)

Got a kick out of the hotel room comment. Two days ago when we were revising our packing for our return journey, my husband and I looked at everything we had categorized around the room and said, "How DID we get all of this into our bags?"

Our First Full Day in Exeter
 

We slept well. In fact, we slept too well. Our dark basement room kept us snoozing well past our planned wake-up time, thus wiping out my carefully orchestrated day to tour Exeter.

Oh well. We FELT GREAT! With a bounce in our step and wearing a lot of layers (I was sporting my lightweight silk underwear!) for this slightly cold and breezy day, we ventured forth up the hill to the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) stopping for a quick coffee on the way. We liked the RAMM's local history section, and we spent about an hour reading through every part of the exhibit that showed Exeter from prehistoric to Roman to Industrial Age to the present times.

By the time we exited the museum, the weather had improved and we were able to put away a layer or two into our daypacks. Our next stop was the Exeter Cathedral, and it was a winner. We weighed the idea of using the guided tour that went with the required paid admission, but we both decided we'd rather tour on our own with the aide of a purchased printed booklet and the free leaflet maps.

Once we started, the most striking detail was the brightly painted bosses throughout the ceiling. Roof bosses hold the ribs in the vaulting. They have been quite plain in other Gothic churches we've toured (and believe me, we've seen a lot of Gothic cathedrals in our lifetime) because I don't recall ever noticing them before. In Exeter Cathedral, however, bosses are done with such outstanding painted relief carving that they appear as jewels. There are over 500 bosses in the cathedral, ranging in size from five inches to a yard in diameter. Simply stunning.

The architecture seemed different, too, and soon we learned why. Exeter has the longest unbroken Gothic vault in England because there is no central tower to interrupt it. There's a substantial yet airy feel to the place.

One of the side chapels features a well done film on the cathedral's history and features and various exhibits show how the cathedral dealt with bomb damage during WWII. We enjoyed all the various screens and pulpits, but what we loved the most was the hole in the wall for the archbishop's cat because mice and rats were drawn to the greased ropes of the nearby clock and the cat had a job to do to get rid of them. As soon as we read this, my husband and I looked at each other and exclaimed, "Hickory, dickery dock!" So that is why that darn mouse was running up and down the clock in the rhyme.

You might enjoy this link I just found: https://cuddlywumps.blogspot.com/201...cathedral.html

One of the guides had just finished a tour when she came across our astonished faces at a full-size papier mache replica of one of the bosses. It was huge! She showed us where it was in the ceiling and also pointed out a few of her other favorites. She explained that Exeter features exemplary tierceron vaulting, or the use of ribs which rise from the side pillars but do not go all the way to the center of the vault and instead meet at cross pieces.

We thanked her for her considerable time, and then we returned our leaflets and the purchased booklet to the admissions table.

We walked outside and the weather had greatly improved again. Time to take off another layer. While doing so, we got a chuckle out of the adolescent school groups visiting. The boys were being boys--tackling each other on the ground but taking side glances to see if their behavior had attracted any female attention. The girls clung together in little groups, having rolled up their skirts at the waist while their teachers weren't looking. Nothing really changes, does it?

I have to continue this post later, so the next part of this entry will have to be...
Our First Full Day in Exeter--The Custom House Visitor Center, The Samuel Jones Smoke and Ale House, and Angelina's

1st Day in Exeter cont'd--Quay area, Angela's
 

We enjoyed another part of Exeter as we strolled down to the Quayside area. Part of our descent approached the ruins of the original city walls, and I quickly spotted a strange Tudor House with wedding shop in the bottom. "Look, it's The House that Moved!" We had just been studying all the pictures of it in the RAMM.

We then made our way further down the hill to the Custom House Visitor Centre. I had hoped to take one of the free Red Coat tours that left from either here or the Cathedral--I had downloaded the schedule before I left--but our late start sadly more or less ruled most of the options out for us. Another disappointment was that the history film they show there seemed out of operation. Nonetheless, we enjoyed all the nooks and crannies of this oldest purpose-built custom house in England and learned quite a bit. There was a cute little exhibit that asserted local explanations behind such sayings as "As far as I can spit", "Hanging on tenter hooks", and "Between sixes and sevens".

I told my husband that there is talk the Custom House will be expanded into more of a maritime museum, and he agreed the place does need to be expanded since Exeter's past as a huge maritime and trade center is so fascinating. We both agreed that now learning Exeter's importance in English economic development, we were really happy we had scheduled a stay in this city.

The Custom House Visitor Centre provides tourist information, and I picked up a better map than the one I got at the hotel. I did not see the South Devon transportation booklet I had hoped to find--I had seen last year's version online--and the desk clerk was on break. Oh well, our fault for getting such a late start.

Speaking of late, it was time for a beer! Low and behold, we found ourselves in front of the Samuel Jones Smoke and Ale House, a St. Austell pub with a lovely location straddling much of the quay. We charged our phones while happily drinking pints of Proper Job IPA, and mapped a different way back to our hotel so that we passed our evening's restaurant. After using the place's nice clean restrooms, we were off.

While the day had become sunny, the wind starting picking up again, and we were pulling layers out of our backpacks like rabbits from a hat again. We turned uphill on New Bridge St and almost missed Angela's because it blended it so well with the street. We then found a hillside path from which to descend to Bonhay Rd.

We were back near the hotel but did not feel like going in yet. The weather forecast for the next day was rain, rain, rain and we wanted to walk for as long as it was dry. We crossed the pedestrian bridge across the Exe and explored the parkland over there. Dogs, runners, cyclists, kids kicking balls, skateboarders trying to outdo each other. Finding a bench, we spent at least 15 minutes watching all the skateboarders, young people who ranged in age from around 10 to 25. We applauded one brave adolescent girl among all the guys, and it was sweet to see that she was emboldened by a nice group of her boy pals.

We retreated to the hotel, showered, and headed back up the hillside path to Angela's. The owner was really sweet, our meal was excellent, and our walk down the hillside in beautiful evening light was lovely.

Next: Honiton

I am loving this report. We see everything by public transportation even if we have to hire a private guide for the day or a cab as we did in one country. The off the beaten paths comments you can only see with a car are not true. We have found we enjoy our trip so much more not driving and my husband loves the challenge. We still drive some in France and Germany but less and less.

My friend from London has a parent in Exeter and she always posts the nicest pictures from the area.
I am the adapter gifter. Haaaa. Love those that you linked. Can't wait to see the laundry. I take these dry sheets now that wash and have a bit of fabric softener. I get at the commissary. I cut into 4 pieces as I feel the new machines in Europe don't need a lot of detergents. I love gemz for hair but hate the single use plastic so have to find something better.

Looking forward to more report. You're my hero. We can do this. I was on the flight from hell the other day and they were several Irish families on board worried about the rental cars being given away. Yikes, they'd been up for over 24 hours and we're all going to drive in Orlando after landing at 10:30 pm. It is hard enough to get out of the airport let alone navigate I-4 to Disney.

Honiton and Ottery St Mary's--Part One
 

Again, our dark basement hotel room meant we overslept a bit. Nevertheless, we had not messed up our plans the way we had the day before; instead, the weather itself would do that. Looking outside at the downpour, we voted to get breakfast at the adjoining pub.

Breakfast is NOT included in the hotel's reservations, but at least one can walk to pub's breakfast without getting wet. Reviews online had often said breakfast was not that good, but we thought, "How bad could it be?" Whoa. It WAS that bad. For example, my overcooked fried eggs were floating atop a sea of baked beans, and the toast had quickly become saturated with a mixture of "bean juice" and grease. Lesson learned.

The rain did lighten up for a bit by the time we headed for the train station. I noted all the coffee stops near there we could use before our departure tomorrow so we would not need to visit the restaurant again. And miracle of miracles, I found exactly ONE copy of the South Devon transport guide there. Yeah, we could do a lot of transport planning just on our phones, but sometimes, having a list of bus and train times can be so helpful.

The trip to Honiton took around a half hour. My husband was amazed that as soon as we got off the train, I was zooming toward the town straight for the All Hallows Lace Museum without missing a beat. I had planned this trek over and over again in my mind, and I was so excited.

As I explained, last year my research had led us to the birthplace of my husband's great great grandfather, the village of Altarnun where his 3rd great grandmother and her ancestors had lived for endless generations. Honiton and surrounding area was MY ancestral turf. Long ago in a box of old pictures, I had found a sweet picture of one of my 2nd great grandmothers whose appearance was so like that of my sisters and cousins that it's frightening. This former dressmaker had carried as a middle name her mother's maiden name, and with a sense of whimsy, my husband and I used that name as my youngest daughter's middle name, a fact that delighted my father. As soon as I started on an ancestry trek with various family branches, one of my major missions was to find out how my paternal grandmother, an immigrant to the USA from Tipton near Dudley Castle, had family who migrated from generations in Honiton, Devon to Bridgewater, Somerset.

The All Hallows Lace Museum is a tiny place that is now serving as a general outpost of town information because the expensive "new" tourist center had closed. By the time we entered its doors, we were soaked to the bone. I told my husband I should have unearthed my packed rain pants for this day. As we tried to tuck our wet umbrellas and outer layers in places where it could not bother others or do damage, we were greeted by lovely volunteers and told how to explore the displays packed into such a small space.

I have no proof the women in this family line made lace, a famous Devon cottage industry that would soon be replaced by machines. But the volunteers told me if they lived here during the time period I had sketched out, more than likely they would been working on small bits by firelight that would later be joined up with the work of others. Their "bits" would more than likely be used as trade for goods for their families.

The person I had decided was my family hero, my third great grandmother, had a father who ended up being the town drunk (not many people get notes about their state of inebriation in parish burial records). He had became "enlisted for life" at age 38 (!) in the 28th Regiment of Foot Soldiers during the Napoleonic Wars and was immediately shipped out to Ireland. He served for 15 years, and I'd say he may have ended up seeing more of the world than even I have. His time in Canada explained a "one-off" DNA line, and who knows what he did with himself during his time in Malta and other parts. I could not figure out how he had had six children in Devon given his time away from home, but luckily I had a world membership in Newspapers.com that gave me access to Exeter newspaper records of his regiment's troop movements. Let's just say he may not have been faithful but his wife probably was, God Bless Her.

One of the volunteers showed me how to make lace. I thus am determined to go home, watch YouTube videos, and make something for my youngest daughter's upcoming wedding. Heck, I have almost a year to do it. As a back-up, I bought several small "bits" for my girls and my sister at the gift desk. The museum has been buying parts of original Honiton lace, breaking it up, and selling it for revenue for the building. Good for them.

I had delayed as long as possible for the rain to lessen, but I was giving up hope. I told the people I would be heading towards the Evangelical Church and I hoped I did not misstep because the rain was so bad. They asked why would I go there. I told them that my 3rd great grandmother had been married there when it was the Independent Chapel, shortly after it was built. They were confident the building was not there then. I pulled my records out of my backpack, and I showed my photocopy of that line's family Bible. They were stunned and said, "Wow, what people would give for such a record." I said, "That's what happens with a strong female line. These sisters must have thought all of this was important." Anyway, a doubting volunteer still thought that church did not exist then, and he called another volunteer, the town historian. She told him I was correct.

My husband mumbled, "She's ALWAYS right." And that, my friends, is the secret to close to 40 years of marriage.

Next: Honiton and Ottery St Mary's--Part Two

Macross--Thanks, as always, for the kind comments. I promise to post about the laundry soon!

Honiton and Ottery St Mary's--Part Two
 

I totally forgot to share what Honiton lace is! And I should have done so because I myself was totally ignorant of it all until I started researching my Honiton ancestors. And by the way, I was also totally ignorant of all the troop movements in the area during the Napoleonic Wars. You would think as a person who has read and re-read Jane Austen novels (Sense and Sensibility was set just outside of town) and who inhaled Patrick O'Brien's Master and Commander series over the course of one summer, I would have done more relating my past reading to current research. Not!

So here goes about the lace...
You know the Royal Christening Gown worn most recently by Prince Louis? It's a replica of the 178-year-old gown first used by Queen Victoria for her children. Prince William and Prince Harry got to wear the original, which was pretty much in tatters by the time Lady Louise Windsor got her shot at wearing it. The gown itself was made of Spitalfields silk overlaid with handmade Honiton lace by Janet Sutherland who was NOT from Honiton. So why call it Honiton lace? Because of the style.

There are many different styles of handmade lace that evolved over time. And although much of the lace during the early 1800s was actually made in Beers, Devon, the type of lace produced was Honiton.

Queen Victoria probably has not been known as being "progressive", but she pointedly gave a HUGE boost to the struggling economy of Devon by commissioning homemade Honiton lace for her wedding gown, more or less indicating that machine-made lace in the same pattern would not be suitable.

Here's a brief common question link.

Ironically, I made made my own wedding dress in 1979 without ever knowing the dressmaking and probably lace-making in my family history. I used illusion to bridge the high-necked collar and the silk bodice and sleeves, appliqueing carefully trimmed Alençon lace throughout.

thank you so much for taking us with you to Exeter and all the wonderful detail about Honiton Lace, AlessandraZoe. We always used to stop in Honiton on our way to Sidmouth for our fortnight by the sea when I was a child but I never knew anything about the lace, though I've heard about it vaguely since. I love the story about the Evangelical Church and you being proved right - of course. And how amazing that you included lace in your own wedding dress. It must be in the genes somewhere.

I found some on ebay. Just beautiful.

Thanks, Annhig. Ebay, Macross! Fabulous idea.

Honiton and Ottery St Mary's--Part Two
 

So the rain had lessened just a tad. We ran out the door and crossed the street a bit further down to the Honiton Evangelical Congregational Church. The doors were locked and trees covered most of the front, but we were indeed standing in the place where my 3rd great grandmother and her "tallow chandler" husband from Ottery St Mary's were married in 1839.

I could not figure out how my 3rd great grandfather supported his family not only by being a tallow chandler in Honiton but also one for the rest of his life in Bridgwater, Somerset. I read a delightful Wikipedia snippet on the Worshipful Company of Tallow Chandlers and that gave me a better grasp of the situation. England's First Industrial Age destroyed much of the economy of all of Devon, including cities like Exeter and farming in places in Devon, by 1840. And sure enough it was by 1841, the time of the first nationwide census, this young couple and their first child had set up household in Bridgwater, Somserset. I'm going to assume that the building of the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal provided the jobs that had disappeared in the River Otter valley.

Onwards. The rain redoubled in force, and we were running out of time. I had contacted a taxi company before we left to see if they could take me three other churches in the Honiton/Ittery St Mary's area. "No problem" they indicated, "As long as it's before our school runs." Well, we had run too close to the deadline for that. The other nearby family church I thought I'd get to see from the outside, the decaying St Michaels and All Angels church in the Awliscombe, Devon would not be open and it was not walkable from our location. It would require a taxi, and even then, exploring its graveyard in this rain would be impossible.

Off to Ottery St Mary's then to the home of the ancestral "tallow chandler". We drank quick Proper Jobs at a local pub and caught the 4a bus to Ottery. The sun had come out, and we enjoyed the scenery of this very pretty river area. Within a half hour, our time of arrival, the deluge returned. Grrr. Oh well, it was an excuse to duck into another pub, The Volunteer, situated right across from the bus stop. It looked pretty dingy outside, and the front part looked pretty dingy too, but the back area was very clean and bright, and the restrooms were marvelous. I called first dibs on the restroom hike, and by the time I returned to the grungy front, my husband was handing me an Otter Bitter, made by the local Otter Brewery. It had very low alcohol but a truly nice depth of flavor.

The rain had stopped and we quickly walked up the hill to the simply delightful St Mary's Church. Whoever had referred to this as a "mini Exeter Cathedral" was right. It had a glorious hilltop setting, wonderful little gardens, and an amazing history. Because Bishop John de Grandisson had a lot of say about both the cathedral and this church, both edifices contained astromical clocks. St Mary's was still working! There is a plaque dedicated to Samuel Taylor Coleridge because this was his family church. Wow, what a great stop.

Well, the remaining plans for the day were a bust, but we did not feel that bad. We caught the next bus to Exeter, and happily settled in. By the time we got to Exeter City Centre, it was about time for an early dinner. I checked and thought we were near enough to and early enough to try Harry's Restaurant, the place we had to forego two nights before. On our way, I dipped into a organic foods store to pick up nuts and dried fruit, and we got to see another area of bustling Exeter we had missed the previous day.

Yes, Harry's would let us in if we could eat quickly. My husband said "I guarantee we can eat it as fast as you can serve it." Our food came quickly and it was so good! I highly recommend it.

We walked over and down the hill to the Headweir, and started repacking for the next day's jaunt to Falmouth. In the meantime, I checked the few items of clothing I had washed the night before to dry in our very toasty bathroom. They were super dry.

With that in mind, my next blurb will be:
New Laundry Tools!

to be followed by
The Falmouth International Sea Shanty Festival

New Laundry Tools!
 

A general review:
Part of traveling light is learning to make use of hotel sinks for bits of laundry. Because most of our travel for decades was on hiking and cycling trips where heavy socks and biking shorts add weight to the suitcase, there was no way to bring enough athletic clothing for the entire trip without a sherpa. One always learned to do the wash on the first night of 3-night stays to give heavy things time to dry and use the 2nd night of the stay could work for quick dry shirts and underwear, etc.

Well, we were no longer cycling but our packing habits are ingrained. I use labeled Lucite drawers in our apartment to store all our travel items. A month before the trip, I had pulled out the drawer with "Laundry", and dug out the needed blow-up hangers, stretchy clothesline, and mini packets of powdered Tide. Then I hesitated. I'm going to weigh all this, I thought. Well, not that good.

My worry about luggage weight is new. My husband isn't particularly tall--he's 5' 11''--and I'm not "model tall"--I'm 5' 8"--but we both are rather naturally strong. He was the gifted athlete; I was the "workhorse" oldest daughter. For example, it was nothing for me to have a pick-up's worth of gravel dumped into the driveway and for me to to shovel it all within a few hours. Age, though, has been telling us slowly yet loudly, "YOU CAN'T DO THESE THINGS ANYMORE OR YOU'LL PAY". So it's no longer how much I can stuff inside a suitcase; it's "how much can you lift without your body parts falling out of you"?

So I weighed all the laundry stuff and said, "I'm finding a lighter way." Here are my new substitutions for the blow-up hangers and travel clothesline:

(I brought six with me for the trip, and that's just about right; my husband only brought four and realized later that two more would have been useful for one or two of our stays) and
(I think I brought 10 with me)

There are limitations--one has to have the right diameter of hanging bar to make either work, and I do worry about melting plastic with the peg clip pins--but they both served their purpose brilliantly, took up little space (could fit in little gaps in the suitcase), and weighed almost nothing. The unforeseen benefit of the folding clothes hangers was that they were always in use when the hotel did not provide enough hangers. Yep, my daughters, who constantly have to travel for business, are sure getting these puppies, and I'm not waiting for Christmas!

As far as detergent, I left my little packets of powdered Tide (needed in the past to get around the liquids ban in carry-on luggage in the US) at home, carried those purse size liquid ones, and supplemented those with hotel bathroom shampoo/bath gel when needed. My powered Tide is still the very best for getting grimy white socks clean in the sink with a bit of a soak, but since I wasn't carrying white socks, I could have cared less.

It's a fact: now that we're not hiking or cycling, the potential loss of luggage in transit has little power to destroy our entire trip, and thus we're much more willing to give airlines the responsibility. Interestingly enough, though, our daughters still refuse to hand over their suitcases. My youngest was just on a trip to India where her fellow co-workers ended up without their business clothing for two work days; she herself was just fine and dandy. When queried where she learned to pack that way, she laughed, "I had a mother whom I thought was a little off the deep end about packing rules. Who knew she'd eventually make sense to me?"

Next: Sea Shanty Here We Come

Goodness me I want to get in my car now and hie me to Honiton. So many places I've never seen and only on my doorstep!

And while we are waiting agog for your Falmouth section, [well I am anyway] can I share my laundry tip with you? I never bother with special laundry power etc, but simply put the clothes I want to wash in the bottom of the shower and stamp on them as I am having my shower and hair wash. If necessary I can give them a bit more of a rinse once I've finished but usually there's no need. But I like your portable clothes hangers and peg clips and will be ordering some pronto.

Falmouth International Sea Shanty Festival--Here We Come!
 

Yep, it had started pouring once again by the time we exited the Headweir Mill House Hotel. The weather predictions for Falmouth were not great, but they would be better than this muck. We crossed the road this time to make our way back to the station because the sidewalk there, we had learned, was a bit broader. Rain and all, we had enjoyed the rushing waters of the River Exe, and we wished that the weather and our jetlag had not prevented us from exploring further points in and around the city.

After a quick Starbucks at the station, we made our way onto the train, which was rather empty, we thought, for a Friday. The conductors were rather social, and they laughed at my rigged-up luggage solution for what was essentially meant to be a backpack (I guess our luggage needs to be a separate entry). Both guys were interested, though, why we were not the typical elderly Americans renting a car, and they liked it. A couple of the passengers joined in, remarking, "We don't need more of you on the road texting". Isn't that the truth! All were pleased that we had loved Cornwall so much we wanted to come back.

At Truro, one of the conductors helped us off with some of the luggage--we really must have appeared to be feeble--and we invited him to join us on the rest of our journey. He declined, but said he'd see us soon enough (he would!).

Unlike our exit at Exeter St David's, which was EXCRUCIATING not only for us but for other much older and much less able passengers because of a broken lift (my dear husband had ended up transferring luggage for two elderly souls up and down, up and down), the platform south to Falmouth was just a roll-down to the other end. We waited just a few minutes and off we went for the short trip to the Falmouth Town stop. We knew no taxis would automatically be waiting there, but I had pre-entered several companies on my phone before we left Exeter. Abacus and Falmouth Taxis answered right away, and within minutes we were on our way to the Greenbank Hotel.

So we're not renting a car, right? Why did I book a hotel so very far away from the station? Well, we had stayed near the station last year at the Oceanic. It was lovely. We loved the owners. We had a great stay. But when we took our bus from The Moor area down to Helford Passage last year, we realized we had limited by our hotel decision an exploration of the rest of Falmouth, and we were determined to correct that. The Greenbank is at the very opposite end of Falmouth, enjoying a view of the harbor, Flushing and in the far distance, St Mawes.

As our female driver was dropping us off, three people were fighting over parking spots at the Greenbank. And as the festival progressed, we would witness this over and over and over again. While we felt for everyone's true distress, we were grateful that this would not be our worry. We checked in within minutes, were shown to our room, and quickly settled in.

Our room had a balcony with two chairs, although it was still a bit too cold to enjoy it, but the sun was shining and the view was stunning. I quickly took a pic, and sent an email to my sister, who with her husband, had owned a boat and sailed for years on the Chesapeake, with the quip, "Why aren't you here?"

We went downstairs to the Working Boat Bar outside area, and we had two beers sheltered from the wind but with some warmth from the sun. The soundchecks for the first performances of the late afternoon/evening at the Greenbank venue (the real parking area for the hotel) had begun. We chatted with a few dog owners nearby, and they told us, "I've never met an American at this festival." My husband responded, "Surely you met us last year" and they laughed.

We retired to the room to shower for our meal reservation at the Star and Garter. In the meantime, the first groups started performing, and we left our sliding door wide open to hear it. What a way to begin!

Here is the link to the online 2019 Falmouth International Sea Shanty Festival programme.

Annhig,
You are absolutely right about the shower/foot method you have described. It certainly was my husband's preferred method for biking shorts, that's for sure because he would use his for TWO days as opposed to my one. There was always so much sweat (among other crud) gathered in the seams, and I'm sure the "stomping on grapes" method got them much cleaner than some of the modern machines can.

About the Falmouth International Sea Shanty Festival
 

OK, if anyone is reading not from Cornwall, you must be wondering, "Why are you THERE?" A mere year ago, we would have been wondering the same. And yet not only did we book to return for this year but also have made a hotel reservation for 2020.

Last year we had no idea what a "shanty" was. Our lodging owners did their best to explain, and after five minutes, we got it. "Sea CHANTY!" It made sense to me as a bad French linguist: "chanson" means song; the UK translated that to "shanty" and we Americans corrupted the French word to "chanty". We sang them all the time in elementary school, and my father played the less PG versions on his violin and his guitar throughout my childhood. Once we understood what sea shanties were, we were "in" for the experience last year and had hotel reservations made for a return by November 2018.

The festival is designed to benefit the RNLI--the Royal International Lifeboat Association--and the proceeds purchase more than boats. Just think of the cost of boots! Lest you think it's not important to contribute to something like this, think about the role two RNLI ships played at Dunkirk. Now tell me that's not a noble excuse to surround oneself in song and gorgeous scenery while downing endless brews!

The admission, except for one concert gala, is entirely free throughout the three days. The entertainers themselves (I'll have to count how many groups on the program) donate their time to perform at least twice in so many different venues throughout the town. Tom Lewis, who is famous for writing so many of the shanties one would hear throughout the festival, came in. This year, in just a month or two before the festival, the famous Fisherman's Friends announced that they would appear. Groups not only from the UK but also from the Republic of Ireland and Brittany, France appeared.

The festival has greatly exponentially expanded. It was not long ago that the word "international" was not part of the title. And the number of venues likewise have expanded. The Greenbank's stage area was much smaller last year; this year, unbeknownst to us when we made our reservations, the marquee took up the entire docking area's parking lot.

Next: More about our Falmouth Adventures

Thursdays--I came to the same conclusion re most of my wash with the bath gels. If I was lucky enough to get a bathtub anywhere, I'd take a soak and do my wash at the same time. We once had biking guides who told us that if they were lucky enough to get a tub, they'd just climb in it without taking off their duds first, do a scrub, then peel off, drain the tub, and then take a real bath.

As to socks, as a result of our trip to New Zealand, I now wear Smartwool ankle socks with my sneakers. They look dreadful with shorts, but believe me, there was never a call for shorts on this trip. The Smartwool keeps feet cool in hot weather and warm in wet but doesn't retain odor like other "smart" fabrics, and I use lightweight ones that dry very, very easily.

This trip, though, we handed over our wash our first morning in Falmouth. My husband's unwashed duds had added up, we were starting to distrust our rain-soaked items from our day in Honiton, and 15 pounds for a stuffed-to-the-max bag that would allow us to enjoy everything about our Falmouth stay seemed to be a wise use of our time.

The admission, except for one concert gala, is entirely free throughout the three days. The entertainers themselves (I'll have to count how many groups on the program) donate their time to perform at least twice in so many different venues throughout the town. T>>

There were well over 50 groups this year, AlessandraZoe, and they generally do 3 sets a day. DS and his group the Falmouth Fish Sea Shanty Collective or "the Fish" for short performed in such venues as a dive bar down hear Events Square, [actually they were allowed to perform in the garden as it was quite hot and gloomy downstairs], a pub right up at the top of Jacob's Ladder in the centre of Falmouth, and a pub opposite the Prince of Wales pier which is where DD and I caught up with them. If you'd stayed down at the Greenbank, you might have heard the DH of a good friend of mine, who sings with a group called "Rum and Shrub" which is the name of a very old fashioned Cornish drink, "shrub" being an alcoholic fruit cordial used by smugglers to cover up the taste of any sea water that might have found its way into their precious cargo. Allegedly.

Nice choice of hotel, BTW. DH and i held our 30th wedding anniversary party there and several of us stayed overnight afterwards. We were pretty impressed and still go back quite often for drinks and meals though I wouldn't dream of doing so during the Shanty Festival, Interesting how you worked out what Shanty meant!

Did you come across "Betty" on your travels? "She" is a chap who dresses up as the infamous Betty Stogs to raise money for a local Children's Hospice and the RNLI [stands for Royal National Lifeboat Institute] and has raised an amazing amount for local charities over the years.

This trip report has really caught my interest. My DH hates driving so I have to do all of the driving when we travel. I have driven on the left a few times and I can do it but I find traveling to be far more relaxing when I'm not driving, regardless of which side of the road I'm on. This has made me re-think the idea that we must drive to get to out of the way places.

More Sea Shanty Festival in Falmouth
 

Thanks for adding the additional information, Annhig. We saw "Betty" often all over town.

The Star and Garter where we had dinner Friday night was darn near The Greenbank. If you go to that link, the table and view seen on the home page was ours! The meal was OK. I'd say the menu was not "us" but the food was prepared very well and we loved our servers at this place. Even better, they served us the West Coast Session IPA from the local Firebrand Brewing House. Excellent!

We returned to the hotel and the festival venue outside was in full swing. We opened our windows and "audited" the night's concert as we drifted off to sleep.

The next day we had a wonderful breakfast and mapped out our day. I had studied the online festival program the weeks before the trip and made notes of "the vitals". Today's mission was to see The Fisherman's Friends at the Skinner's Stage area near the Maritime Museum at 1 pm, hear them again back at the other end of town at our hotel at 4:45 pm, and attend The Gala at the Poly at 7 pm. In between, I wanted to check out the local art museum and if possible, take the ferry to St Mawes and hike a little.

We were off! We headed toward The Moor area for the Falmouth Art Gallery. While many visitors have rated this place highly, the temporary exhibits in the small space meant we could not see any of their permanent collection. DARN--I had so looked forward to some of that work. Disappointed, we headed down to the Prince of Wales dock to check out ferry times to St. Mawes. We had just missed a sailing by 5 minutes. I was starting to feel like those people in Disney World who arrive without a plan of action.

We decided we had to commit to the next trip and bought two return tickets. The ferry boat kiosk manager said, "Can you run? If you can, you can make the next sailing down at the Customs Wharf", which is at the other end of town. And again, we were off. We made it just in time to watch passengers disembark. And to our delight, it became "Westies on Parade". A total of 8 Westies had made their way up to the dock! One of the owners explained he did not know the other people and could not believe that all of them were on the same boat. We told him we had just lost our Westie at age 16 in January and were still grieving. We would see many, many more in Falmouth over the weekend, so we would get our Westie fix.

The St Mawe's Ferry was a pretty trip, especially because so many boats and ships had come into the harbor area for the festival and the sun was peaking through. But as soon as we landed, a bit of rain started once again. Oh well, back to the layers out of the backpack. We dipped into the pub/cafe part of the St Mawes Hotel, where the staff kept us in stitches. The heck with the hiking. The heck with the rain. We had a couple of pints in good company.

The ferry ride back was miserable in weather but also very fun in company. And we arrived back in the dock just in time to get to the Skinner's Stage for the Fisherman's Friends. The crowd was packed in tighter than sardines, but we found an area from which we could listen. They were so good. At the end, we quickly left, darting our way through the people fighting again over parking spaces in the lot. As we made our way back towards the Greenbank, we'd stop in at various venues for quick listens. Once we reached the Star and Garter, our dear servers poured us our Firebrand drafts and got us a Ploughman's Lunch. That hit the spot.

As we climbed to our hotel, we were stunned by the number of people gathering on the hillside. Once again, the Fisherman's Friends would be drawing an amazing crowd. We went straight to our room, although in doing so, we were skirting the cocktail hour of a wedding. In our room, we pulled our chairs to the edge of the balcony where we got to hear loudly and clearly most of the performance of Nordet, a group from Brittany. They were MARVELOUS. The mass of people below increased even more. Then the Fisherman's Friends came on, and we could hear them even better than we had at the Skinner's Stage. Wonderful. We kept saying to each other how lucky we were--we had no idea any of this would happen when we made these hotel reservations months ago.

We quickly showered and changed our clothes, getting to hear the following groups as we did so. And then off to the Gala, the only paid event of the festival. I think I may have been among the first to purchase online tickets for this concert. The event was sold out, even though I'd say many of the groups performing at other places/times in the festival were better than a couple of the ones on this night's programme. But it was so nice to a) have a seat and b) be able to listen without hearing conversation.

I was seated next to a couple from Germany who like us had accidentally attended last year's festival and decided to return. She told me I was the first American she had seen so far in Cornwall; I laughed and told her she was my first German. One of the group's performers had come from Brittany; another had come from Cobh, Ireland. The standout performance was Tom Lewis, and now I understand why he is famous among the sea shanty cognoscenti. All throughout the festival, one could hear the groups and the crowd singing some of the songs he himself had written. I found a good link to much of his work here. Unfortunately, because he was the last to perform, his set was cut a bit short. We hoped we could see him perform the next day.

I hugged my new German friend goodbye, and we climbed up the hill to the Greenbank, stopping in at The Star and Garter again because we were "parched". Our bartender started pouring the moment he saw us.

At the Greenbank, the outside concert was finishing up; unfortunately, as I had feared once I had spotted the cocktail hour before, the wedding reception at the end of our room's hall had not. There's nothing quite like a vibrating bed due to bass percussion. After punching my pillows in frustration for a bit--note that my husband did not notice a thing!--I gave up, took my Kindle and went down to the hotel's main bar area near reception. I snuggled into a deep fluffy chair and happily read until 12:15 am, the time when the staff told me the guests had to leave. Indeed, by 12:25 there were a few stragglers still in the area upstairs, but the bass throbbing had certainly stopped and I would blissfully sleep uninterrupted.

Next: An Apology; The Last of the Sea Shanty Festival

An Apology to Those Seeking Info on Falmouth
 

I must tell everyone that this year, we did not do half the exploration of the Falmouth area that we had done last year, so my trip report might provide great info on the Sea Shanty Festival, but provides very little information about touring Falmouth itself. Here are a few things we did last year, all without a car...

• Hiked up to Pendennis Castle for an amazing view over the South Coast
• Visited the National Maritime Museum (the view of the harbor inside is worth the price of admission)
• Took a bus to Trebah Garden and then
• Took the Helford Ferry (just a small motor boat) across the Helford Passage to the Helford/Frenchman's Creek area (yep, Daphne du Maurier stuff)
• Hiked our return up the South West Coast Path from Helford to Swanpool Beach, and from there, took the only taxi of last year's stay

For more specifics, you can consult last year's trip report.

Why did we not do more this time? We had actually planned to explore more on the Roseland Peninsula using ferries, a perfect plan given our Greenbank Hotel location. But the festival truly had expanded so much and had become so delightful, that we stayed put.

Next: The End of the Festival

The End of the Festival
 

We woke up ready to go. We had groups to hear! During our tasty breakfast at the Greenbank (it really is lovely), we outlined our "musts" --the group from Brittany, Nordet and Tom Lewis. We figured our best bet was to get to the Skinner's Stage near the Maritime Museum to hear Nordet at 2 pm and then do a quick run to the Pennycomequick Pub to hear Tom Lewis at 3 pm. We could then return to the Skinner's Stage for the Grand Finale.

First, though, we could sit on our hotel room balcony and listen to the first group scheduled for The Greenbank stage, Mariners Away. They were quite good! We soon departed the hotel, working our way in and out of venues all the way to the Skinner's Stage at the opposite end of the town.

We were able to establish a sort of "beachhead" at one of the restaurants ringing the performance area, and we invited a man, who was soon joined by this wife, with a very unreliable dog to sit down with us. Oh, the dog was fine with us; it just was not happy with other dogs and people. We figured if we could lower the owner's stress the dog would feel better. We got to hear about its sad life--it was born in Romania where dogs are abandoned everywhere, and even when it was adopted, the owners were not willing to work out its issues.

I don't blame those former owners--there are plenty of dogs for adoption out there who do not have issues--but we did like how this owner and his wife handled the dog and we give them a lot of credit. I'm a big fan of a show in the US called Dr Jeff: Rocky Mountain Vet who is fighting the fight for spaying and neutering all over the planet. Dr Jeff had an episode on Romanian street dogs that particularly resonated, so I had an inkling what these owners were about, too.

Nordet came on stage, and if they had been good the day before, they were breathtaking this time. We'd travel to see them again. Near the end of the set, bad weather came in, whipping canvas and chairs and whatever around. The lead singer said, "We're from Brittany. We're used to this!" My husband and I laughed because most of our cycling days in Brittany had been in this type of weather. As my youngest remarked just a few months ago, "All I remember of Brittany is those amazing Ker-y Poms (baked apple pastries), rain with headwind, and a constant uphill. I don't remember one single downhill!"

Luckily, we were armed with our ever-present one-dollar ponchos in our backpacks, and we stayed to the wet end of their set. Then we were off. We did not drift in and out of any other venues this time--we hustled straight to the Pennycomequick. The previous group was running a bit late, so we made it in time. And fans of the previous group then left their seats, so we were able to sit up front near Tom with a fresh brew. And amazingly enough, I got to chitchat with his 2nd wife Lynn before the set!

Facts: Tom was born in Belfast but raised in Gloucester, England. He joined the Royal Navy as a teenager, and learned the welding trade in the process. When stationed in Scotland, he became enchanted by sea shanties. He not only collected them but also wrote new ones. He and Lynn, though, lived off of his metal skills in inland Canada for years before they realized that the demand for his musical creativity was huge. And now they've returned to England for their home base but tour constantly. They are both lovely people. Heck, maybe he'll be performing near you soon--here's his current tour schedule.

Tom did not repeat one song from his set the night before at The Gala. He is such a presence, and we felt lucky to see this artist. Yes, we shall travel to see him again, too.

We were off! The finale was at the Skinner Stage. We found a table at the opposite side from where we were before, got two brews and...our dog friends were there! We all laughed. The rain had stopped, the 5 PM finale was wonderful, and we were so very grateful we had gotten to be a part of this wonderful event and wonderful cause.

I had made reservations long ago at the nearby Rick Stein's, but that time was an hour away. We decided to chance it that they've let us take an early table. Success! We had a good meal and great service.

On our walk back (and I swear, most of it WAS uphill) to the Greenbank, we did one last visit with our Star & Garter. My husband said, "You don't think we'd leave without saying goodbye, did you?" and we tried a different brew. Not as good as that Firestone, though.

The Greenbank was quiet. And so were we. Tomorrow we would be on our way to St Austell.

Next: St Austell/Charlestown Beckons

St Austell/Charlestown Beckons
 

We took our last breakfast view of Falmouth Harbor, packed up, and made our way to check-out. I decided we should reserve a room for next year's festival if at all possible. I was unsure if I wanted the room we had so near the wedding area. I asked the desk manager about the situation. She looked up the available rooms, telling me that she probably could book us a room inside the main building, away from all of that. I was torn, but then she remarked, "And your room is booked for next year anyway!" Decision done!

I called a cab, and soon we were at the Falmouth Town stop, rolling our belongings up the ramp to take the short leg to Truro. At Truro, we swtiched lines to go on the Penzance-Paddington line to St Austell. We had the same train conductors who had helped us before! Both asked all about the festival. The both said now they were determined to go. We determined that the train was rather empty. They said that in just a week or two, there would be standing room only because schools would be letting out.

Our St. Austell/Charlestown B&B owner had informed us there was a taxi rank at the station, and soon we were on our way to The Seaways B&B. We knew our room would not be ready until 3 pm, but we planned to drop off our luggage and make our way down the South West Coast Path to explore Charlestown. When there was no answer at the door, I called the owner, who told us the key code for the lockbox. We let ourselves in, found our room, and changed out for a bit of hiking. And looking at the view from our room, I just had to take a picture and zap an email to my sister to say, "Why aren't you HERE?"

It took us a bit to find the path--we did not want to go tramping through backyards--and soon we were on this poorly maintained and not very scenic section of the path. We kept remarking how lucky we were that we had not hiked this during the rain we had endured in Honiton. While neither of us was sporting hiking boots, my husband was wearing his knee compression sleeves and I was wearing my Powerlix Achilles Compression Sleeves. I had also pulled out my REI Black Diamond Trekking Poles for the first time of the trip.

Once we could see Charletown, the descent paid off, and we immediately reported for beer to the Pier House Hotel for two pints of Proper Job IPA and some sandwiches. We got a "Westie fix" when we spotted owner and dog frolicking nearby, The owner said he was having a tough time training him, and we roared with laughter. "You are really going to have to double down, " we remarked, "because a Westie always feels its HIS mission to train YOU! You have to make sure you come out on top or it's all over." We had always felt that in our training of our little guy, we had only arrived at a more or less negotiated peace.

We explored the nearby Shipwreck & Heritage Center, where our options were to include a bit of the masted ships outside plus tour the museum or just tour the museum. My husband has not interest in rigging, historical or not, and I had had my fill of it in my travels with my parents, so we opted just for the inside. The museum was worth it IF one paid close attention to detail. We got to see an exhibit on the history of shipwreck exploration and then viewed many artifacts from wrecks both near and far. Some of the stories behind sinkings were so very tragic and moving.

We made our way out to daylight and walked around town. My husband has yet to see one episode of Poldark; indeed, I only saw the series after we had visited Cornwall last year--and even then, I had read the entire book series first. But I explained to him that Charlestown was the filming substitute for Falmouth in the series, and I brought up pictures on my phone to show how the location was used. He was impressed.

We climbed our way out of Charlestown up the path (thank you, trekking poles) and finally got to meet both the B&B owner, Jules, who is simply delightful, and her dog, Leila, who is so sweet. Originally a hairdresser from Plymouth, she and her contractor husband lived in a caravan for a year while he built/rebuilt houses on the B&B's hill. They immediately sold the first one they did, moved into the second house while renting the ground floor out, and they've purchased another in front of it. They plan to LOWER the roof on the one in front. She was charming and simply fascinating. We assured her we had made dinner reservations ahead of time, and she made sure she approved those choices!

After a few hours of lounging around, we called a taxi instead of hiking down to Charletown's The Longstore restaurant. The food was good, although one irritating thing was trying to remember a list of specials briefly shown us on a chalkboard. Then we saw a customer go up and snap a picture of it to take back to the table. Yep, should have done that! We ended up drinking a local IPA, Ellensberg, from Harbour Brewing in the Bodmin, Cornwall area.

We returned to the Pier House Hotel pub, and played with all the dogs inside while chatting with their owners. Soon it was time to call a taxi again. We got the same driver who had dropped us off at the Longstore, who was on my case because he knew I was upset about having a certain leader back home, and he continued to state his admiration of the guy (not--it was a joke) all the way home. My husband just roared with laughter.

Next:
Why All the Taxis--Thought You Were Going Without a Car?
Heligan Gardens and Mevagissy