Tuesday, August 16, 2011

The Lizard and Helford estuary

The people of southwest England have been very helpful and kind. They remind us of the southern Italians since they are also eager to give us directions and recommendations of sights to see. In fact, we have changed our itinerary based on this advice. Land's End, which we will visit in a couple of days, has the reputation of being the southernmost point in England. However, that is wrong and Lizard Point has that honor. On Sunday, we rode out to Lizard and enjoyed the views and glorious sunshine.








The structure shown above is the old lifesaving station from 1914. We also stopped at Kynance cove with it's beautiful cliffs and beach.





After our ride it was beer o'clock and we stopped at the famed Blue Anchor and enjoyed some of the best beer in Cornwall. We tried four different ales, Bens's Stout, the Special, an ale brewed in honor of the royal wedding of Will and Kate (WnK) and the Middle, the most popular ale. They were great and we also had a good time talking to two locals about the local fishery which includes crabbing and lobster pots.


On Monday we headed out to see the Helford river estuary. Here is an example of some of the forest along the roads we have ridden during the last 12 days. The forest will often hang over the road as well and we plunge into the darkness of deep woods as we descend to a stream or creek.


We stopped at a local farm for a Cornish pasty for lunch. They are the fast food in this area, were filled with steak and potatoes, and were delicious.


The tide was quite low today and frustrated our efforts to take our 13th ferry ride. The picture below is from a tributary of the estuary.


We headed back to Helston in misty conditions. On Tuesday we head out for Penzance.

2 comments:

Diana said...

Your commentary on the local brews is challenging my long standing adherence to wine. Might have to try some...could open a whole new world. The pictures of the countryside are dazzling and the one showing people at the beach puts to rest the notion that England is perpetually cold and rainy!

Dave and Belinda said...

Hi Diana, the world of ales is a whole different range of flavors. The first ales we had in Devon were very creamy malt types and the Cornish ales are good, but not extremely hoppy or creamy. The English seem to enjoy the beach, hiking, or cycling in any weather, rainy or otherwise.