Monday 17 November 2008

7th Sept 2008 - Mousehole, Minack Theatre, Land's End,

Day 6

It's my birthday today and according to the weather forecast, it’s going to be a sunny day ;o) After breakfast, I traveled south of Penzance to arrive at Mousehole (pronounced /ˈMowzel/), a lovely small fishing village near Newlyn in Cornwall, United Kingdom, reputed to have one of the most beautiful harbours in the country. The village has a stunning collection of yellow-lichened houses, built from the local finely grained Lamorna granite, huddled together around the inner edge of the harbour - protected from the force of the sea coming across Mounts Bay by two sturdy breakwaters. I parked my car at the side of the road leading towards the village center and walked in. It's probably partly due to the good sunshine that I was instantly attracted to this little village the moment I set eyes on it. It has a harbour with quite some boats parked giving it a nice picturesque element. It's still quite early so there weren’t many tourists yet. I took my time to walk around the harbour and the village. It's a good picture composition from whichever angle / corner you look. It’s quite early and the locals are just starting their day, they greeted each other by the name (so you can imagine how small this place must be) as they met while going to the shops to get the newspapers.

Finally after almost 2 hours, I reluctantly left this charming village and went to Porthcurno. The main reason I came here was for the Minack Theater, an open-air theatre, constructed above a gully with a rocky granite outcrop jutting into the sea (minack in Cornish means a stony or rocky place). The theatre is located near Porthcurno, 4 miles from Land's End in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. I paid to park at the foothill and walk up towards the theater only to find it offers free parking to its customers. I didn’t go straight in but went to the side, looking down to the Porthcurno beach. It’s a beautiful view. As I only paid for 2hrs parking, I thought I would use that for the beach and then later on drive up to the theater so I wouldn’t be limited by the car park’s timing. I descended to the beach along the cliff edge coastal path. There was a cable hut near the life guard house. There were quite a lot of beach-goers today since it’s a beautiful day.

I then drove my car up to the Minack Theater’s car park and went in. The receptionist told me that the lower deck and the stage is not accessible at the moment as the theater performers are doing their rehearsals. The admission ticket is £3.50. Upon entering the area, I was amazed by the settings of the theater. The theatre was the brainchild of Miss Rowena Cade, who lived at Minack House overlooking Porthcurno Bay. Miss Cade and her gardener made a terrace and rough seating, hauling materials down from the house or up via the winding path from the beach below. In 1932, The Tempest was performed with the sea as a dramatic backdrop, to great success. Miss Cade resolved to improve the theatre, toiling hard over the course of the winter months each year throughout her life (with the help of Billy Rawlings and Charles Angove) so that others might perform each summer. I sat at the upper deck admiring the view and the unique setting. There were some play music going on and then suddenly, the players started rehearsing the play ‘They came to a city’. So I got to watch the entire play (minus the costumes) for free. Not a bad deal eh. The plays are shown mostly in the evening but there are few days where they also have matinee shows. I think it would be best to come for a play in the evening time as you're fully exposed to the scorching sun on a good day like this because there isn’t any roof on top of you. However, in the evening, you might not have a good view with the big blue ocean as the background.

Following that, I went to Lands End, UK's most south western point and most visited outdoor tourist attraction. Lands End has rugged wave lashed cliffs, stunning views, the Longships Lighthouse and Wolf Rock off shore, the Isles of Scilly in the distance. There is a huge car park and the entrance costs £3. It has a theme park with 5 main attractions (man-made). I am not at all interested in those so I just head towards the cliff edge and the coastal paths. It's an awesome view, especially on a good day like this. One of the sign posts indicated that there's a path linking towards Sennen Village and Sennen Cove 1 mile away. So, I decided to follow it. The walk is pretty easy and the scenery along the way was great. Sennen Cove is also a popular spot with surfers. After sometime, I went back to the car park and drove back to Penzance.

Back in Penzance, I celebrated my birthday at The Yatch Inn's restaurant. I ordered a steak special and also a pint of the Tribute (local Cornish brew from St. Austell brewery). Happy 30th Birthday to myself ;)

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