Cornwall - think Doc Martin, Poldark!

Big few days driving around the the Cornwall coast.
Started off from Wales and down the coast to Port Issac. It took 3 hours on jam packed highways so was hoping it would be worth it.
Port Issac is where they film Doc Martin - for those of you who are fans. It has made the north cornwall coast a big tourist must -do especially over the summer months. It is a tiny (and I mean tiny) fishing village. You can't park down by the harbour so have to park at the top and walk 3/4 mile down. Beautiful views of white sheer cliffs as you go down. Lovely little houses and down a narrow lane and behold - a tiny harbour with the tide out and fishing boats on their side in the mud.

 Doc Martin's cottage

If you watch Doc Martin, you think the harbour is bigger (must be the angles) and that the area in front of the harbour is bigger too. It is full of fishing nets and boxes. We walked up the other side to Doc Martin's cottage (private) but I posed in front of it anyway. That was the only place I could see that said anything about Doc Martin (sign on the wall before climbing up).

Very windy but great for blowing the cobwebs away! Only disappointment was I couldn't see the school she teaches at - it looks as if it is near the harbour but there wasn't anything like that.
We had a yummy cornish tea at the nearby cafe (scones, jam and tea).
Then there was the climb back up ..... and up,,,,, and up!

Then more going down narrow roads, little villages, back onto the highway all the way to the bottom to .... Land's End (equivalent to our Bluff). It boasts of the last  inn, the last icecream, last ....... in England as it is the furthermost southern spot. On top of cliffs and you can walk along these paths along the cliffs to the next village (I actually wanted to- but Dave was a bit tired and grumpy from driving by that stage). Magnificent views of wild and woolly seas, cliffs etc.

We stayed the night in an old country house (mansion) in an apartment above the old stables). Quite cool.

That night we drove 4 mins to the nearby fishing village called Newlyn looking for a restaurant or pub to eat! what a performance - it was dark and we walked around and found a pub which was rather dodgy - went in and all noise stopped as they looked us up and down. Dave asked about food and all these Cornish accents started giving us directions to places. Actually quite friendly - however after driving around we decided to go back to the local chippy and get fish and chips (with vinegar) to take back to our 'apartment',  Was really yum - fresh fish straight from the sea. Just nice eating off the coffee table watching tv, like home!
Next day was looking around Penzance (3 mins away) - nice coastal town (think Pirates of ....). We had breakfast in a cafe in the first lifeboat house - old stone building that used to house the lifeboat which would go out and rescue boats in trouble in the 1800. App. it was on a large cart and horses would pull it down to the beach!

this was a castle in Penzance which you could go to driving over a causeway at low tide.
After that was an hour or more driving to a small fishing village called Charlestown. Never heard of it you say ?.... well it is where Poldark is filmed (the lastest one). I saw it advertisng a Shipwreck Museum including Poldark so it became a must see!
Very picturesque with a man-made harbour. Went to the museum (really good -lots about pirates and shipwrecks including artifacts from the Titanic). The area was into china clay and would fill up the harbour with boats taking clay away. Poldark filmed all it's port scenes here, the tin mine and cliff scenes were filmed above the nearby town. Very big for the area and has done tourism a big boost - just for those who like Poldark - photos of the filming were in the museum - however the latest is that the BBC have commissioned 5 more years of it -covering two books a year. So bring it on! We had a look around the harbour (it has a dock that keeps water deep in the tying up area for boats) and the outer part was mud as the tide was out. So boats can only come and go in high tide!

Then another cornish tea (scones, jam and tea - scones not as nice as yours Julie and Donna - you could make millions!) and off to Bournemouth. I made a stuff up here cause my google said an hour to get there but nav man said 3 hours and guess which was right! Poor Dave driving ......