In 2019, The Walking And Talking Society visited the very top of Great Britain at John O’Groats. Today was the day we visited the furthest point away – Land’s End. It’s an obvious destination when you’re holidaying in Cornwall.
But first, breakfast.
St Ives
Even on an overcast day, finding somewhere to park was a nightmare in this seaside town. We finally found a space at Park Avenue Car Park and descended into town.
St Ives is famous for its artists. There’s even a Tate gallery here, one of only four in the UK. It’s the perfect place for a photo shoot.
In recent years, Brendan has only gone and turned himself into an Instagram influencer. His hard work had finally paid off (for us) when TOG24 contacted him and offered all five of us free clothes to show off in Cornwall. All we had to do was look like we were enjoying ourselves. Easy.
Can I put “model” on my CV now? If you go on TOG24’s Instagram, you’ll actually see our ugly mugs.
BTW, here’s the link to the coat I wore, if you wanna look as cool and mustardy as me:
Before heading to the harbour, we popped into The Market Place tea room for tea and scones.
Very nice. Very English.
It’s cream on top of jam, right?
Pinky out.
Brendan was very insistent we did not spill anything on our TOG24 clothes, as it was time to go be models again.
And the sun had made an unexpected appearance.
Just me and my ride.
Just me and my ho.
Action shot.
The photographer.
Another photographer had beaten Brendan to this spot on the end of Smeatons Pier. Clearly they had no idea that a genuine Insta Influencer was waiting for them to move cos they took ages.
After many, many snaps, Brendan let us go into town for an ice cream.
Whilst Joel was waiting for his cone, a bird hit him with an unspeakable act.
Luckily the bulk of the shit missed him and he was only splattered with specks. Still, it ruined his Cornish ice cream experience and made him very sad.
Look, he can hardly smile.
With the narrow streets getting busier and busier, it was time to leave St Ives and drive the last 18 miles to…
Land’s End
So here’s a strange one. The Land’s End signpost is fenced off by a local photography company, and you have to pay to have a photo with it. They do offer a service where you can tell them your hometown, and they will put it on the signpost with a calculated distance – which tbf is pretty cool. But still. You don’t have to pay to have your photo with the John O’ Groats sign. That’s England for you though.
I just did what every single other person did, and had my photo by the fence.
Close enough.
After admiring the scenery, we felt this was a good place to finally try out a local delicacy – which took ages to purchase cos Andy broke the card machine.
I can’t remember if this was £6 or £8. In Cornwall you just have to accept the expense. You spend most of the trip shutting your eyes and tapping your card.
Although it was expensive, it was delicious. Amazing. I think everyone enjoyed them. Better than any fake Cornish pasty I’d had in the past. I wolfed it down before we all went on a walk along the cliffs south of the car park.
This island is known as The Armed Knight.
We are just so happy to take in this scenery.
Further down the coast we came to Enys Dodnan Arch.
On a sidenote, am I the only one getting Peter from Deadpool 2 vibes? #XForce
We walked on to the site of an old castle called Carn Boel. There are few remnants of it left. As Taras and I sat down to enjoy a Corona…
Andy took out his kite.
By now I was starting to get tired and my phone was starting to get low on battery. So we made our way back to the cars and headed on to our final destination of the day.
Penzance
The weather had turned. We had originally planned to see St Michael’s Mount, but with dimming light and ominous clouds, it was best we found somewhere indoors. Luckily, it was free to park along the Western Promenade at this time. Free parking in Cornwall??? WHAT?!
Just like St Ives, finding somewhere to eat was difficult. We had to wait 45 minutes for a space to open at an Italian, in which time we managed to find a pub that would serve us drinks only.
At Gino’s Spaghetti House, four of us ordered pizza. I ordered a Hawaiian, but really I ordered a herb pizza with ham and pineapple. They didn’t hold back on the toppings and it was the herbiest pizza I’ve ever had.
So with food in our bellies and herbs on our tongues, we returned to Redruth. On Day 2 we had reached the end of Land. On Day 3 we were heading to Britain’s most southerly point…
#VidOnTour 