Around Cornwall on CB125F Day 6 – Bodmin to Lizard
This was one of the nicest rides in whole trip. Apart from visiting two castles and taking a ferry, the ride to Lizard was a pure joy on those roads I took and places I went through.
St Mawes
On this leg there were 69 miles with 2.5 hours on ‘saddle’. The route took me nicely South / West to the St. Mawes and its castle. There is lovely harbour there and road around the town is kind of in a shape of coat hanger. Nothing to regret, well maybe that I didn’t have an opportunity to visit a castle and stop for longer. It is such a picturesque place, that I have to return the other time and take some good pictures.
I came along one side of the ‘hanger’ and followed the other side of it on my way to the Philleigh – Trelisick ferry crossing on B3289. It is one of those small but lovely chain ferries. Locally it is know as King Harry Floating Bridge.
From ferry I followed a narrow road toward A39, practically the only way to get to Falmouth. However, instead of riding via Come-to-Good you can take even better route via Penpol, Point and Devoran. This will guarantee you a single track roads, perfect for the motorcycle. And on this day I had such a great weather, I just had to go slow and absorb the scenery.
Pendennis
Regardless of my slowing down efforts, I have arrived at Pendennis Castle on the other side of the Carrick Roads within one hour. As a matter of fact, if you take the Pendennis Castle as you destination, Google map will take you exactly to the entrance of the castle. The problem is that there is no parking over there. The best option and the nearest one is to the North of the castle and it is accessible from Castle Drive. It is signposted but not very well and it is easy to miss it, I did.
The Pendennis is much bigger then St Mawes in all aspects and it was still in use by DoD for training until 1956. As for the 450 years old castle it is unusual but I may wrong. I spent some time wandering around the castle and on the guided tour inside the Keep. They say it is used now for events such as weddings. Such a change in the use and function.
However, the Pendennis has a very important story and it is related to their very unique type of cannons. Here is a short video about just that:
On the hot day like the one I was there, it is a blessing that they have a cafe on site with refreshments. It most likely serves as well on any other days too. Nothing fancy, cold and hot drinks plus some snacks and obviously Cornish pasty. There is always good time to stop by for such a bite.
A day was still young and the sun high in the sky but it was enough of the visit and time to move on to my destination, the Lizard. It is not far from Falmouth, just around 22 miles over nice, winding roads, so I didn’t rush my self. It is ultimately all about enjoyment and feeling good every day.
The Farmhouse
When I arrived at Haelarcher Farmhouse, my B&B for the night, the most unexpected found me there. There was my national flag flying from the mast, so I thought, ‘wow, I didn’t expect to meet here someone from my country’. But it turned out to be raised for me, a courtesy flag to show how much the hosts value foreign visitors to their home. They did that based on my surname, even if I live in the UK. How wonderful and thoughtful, something I wouldn’t imagine in my boldest dreams. Thank you so much for all your outstanding hospitality 🙂
I was also greeted with a coffee and cookies and being given a cosy room to rest. I was in the need to do my laundry and this has been done for me, so in the morning I had fresh cloths for the rest of my travels. Speaking about morning, I enjoyed one of the best breakfasts there with fresh fruits, home made bread and all other things you may like to have. It was the most amazing place to stay. If you are planning a visit to Lizard I highly recommend it.
RNLI
After my arrival I still had so much time on my hands, so I went for a very long walk. I went to see the Lizard Point, lighthouse and in the opposite direction an RNLI station. In normal circumstances you can be shown around during some hours but not at those crazy times. It is very impressive, built on the very steep rocks, protruding toward the sea, like it was suspended in the air. I mean the launching hangar down there 🙂
On the way back I met with a couple staying in the Haelarcher as well. We all were hungry, and Lizard had three places open. There were two pubs and an The Witchball, now as an open air restaurant serving mainly sea food but obviously locally sourced. I had a mackerel, actually there were two of them and pile of chips with green leaf salad. It was more then I could eat and for very reasonable price. Another place I definitely recommend in Lizard.
There is also a place selling an ice cream, a Tregullas Farm Shop, but I was too late to check it out. There is something about Cornwall in this respect, the ice cream can be found every where and it is bloody good.
This wouldn’t be complete without a map of the route, so here it is.
On the final note, The Lanhydrock View was my first B&B booking in Bodmin. But because they didn’t offer any breakfast and there was nothing around to have one, I changed my booking to Castle Canyke Farm. I felt that this change was a marginal issue, hence the old place is mentioned on the map instead.
