We were just out for a drive but drove farther and farther into Cornwall. We sped past Bodmin Moor, eclipsed Dartmoor, lying huge and mighty on the skyline. We weren’t trying to cross Dartmoor today, we had other ways to go. We were travelling on the A30 via Bodmin and Launceston. At the top of Bodmin moor we stopped to look at the piebald ponies grazing free on the moor. In the distance there were red flags flying, probably there was army training.
Bodmin is a landscape like none other, it is high and wild and bleak, the trees are conifers. As we travelled on there were windmills, huge, white, flying like cranes or storks except once you got close to them they dwarfed the car. We travelled on the road to Newquay past Indian Queens choosing the A3059. We dropped down to the sea from the central spine of Cornwall peninsula.
The trees that lined the road were a vibrant green, there was purple rhododendron, occasionally bluebells in the hedge. From Trevarrian we made it to Mawgan Porth, down a very steep hill that does a hairpin bend onto the golden sand.
We parked in St Mawgan in an unattended car park and got out to take a look at the sea and the cliffs, magnificent on this North Coast of Cornwall. Quite by chance we found an open top bus waiting in St Mawgan labelled ‘Padstowe’ so without a moment’s thought we jumped on and off we went thinking that it was just around the corner. But it was about an hour of cliff top mists and fields to Padstowe. The last bus back was at 6pm, but the ride was worth it. The bus took the B3276 in the direction of Newquay.
There were lambs in the fields, bleating in the sea mist. Beside the road there was tall Queen Anne’s lace, smelling sweet. We dropped down to Harlyn Bay where there was a long beach and irises in gardens on cliff tops. We passed Trevose Head and Mother Iveys. For miles the hedge was the deepest pink, with a sea flower that liked the salt breezes and the prevailing winds.
We crossed a narrow bridge to St Merryn, passed the grey stone school and slate walls. The trees that line the road are craggy, covered in ivy. Then there are pale blue flowers, sea pinks and white along the side of cliffs. At Carneva Bay we climb a road out of the bay and see white lilies huge like trumpets. We don’t take the road to St Issey, but pass a whole field of wild flowers, sea facing hedges are pink with flowers.
We reach Padstowe and drink coffee and tea looking over the Camel estuary, sleeping today in a half mist.
On the way back there is a National Trust property at Carnevas, where there’s a path to Bedruthan steps. We decide to do that another day. From Trenane we have a view over the sea, the trees slant sideways with the prevailing winds from the sea.
We return to Mawgan Porth windblown and happy from the open top windy ride into mist. Now the tide has turned and there is a silver sea for the end of the day.
There is nothing like the view from the top of an open top bus in Spring.