Day 10 Port Isaac and Truro

Day 11 began with a new experience. There was a breakfast place called brodie’s on the main street and we opted for that rather than a hotel breakfast. You pay for one of the breakfast packages and you do it all y6ourself. We had toast with boiled eggs and jam. You can have as much as you want of food and drink. It tasted great and was a fabulous, novel idea. We took off for Truro via a few picturesque seaside places. The first was Launceston. Camilla, the duchess of Cornwall has opened it to the public. We walked around the perimeter rather than doing the internal tour. We saw the remnants of the walls and the foundations of the external buildings. After a tour of the town we restored our energy reserves with a lemon tart and an enormous coffee before driving on to Boscastle. This place was all steep, winding roads that led visitors down to a narrow harbor where the sea breaks through. While it was relatively still today, we could imagine the force that it exerts on those seafront walls. The primary purpose of the day was to see Port Isaac, the seaside town that Doc Martin is filmed in. With the steepness of the streets and the near misses by the massive tradie vans that try to wind their way through the town, the real-life doctor in the town would have to be a trauma and heart expert. It was like being on the set of the film. There was Louisa’s school, the Large cliff-side restaurant, the doc’s home… the cupped harbour where the lunatic tourist drove the car out during low tide and was trapped by the incoming rush of tide later. We did a huge walk from the town side, down to the harbour and then up the doc’s side, past his house and high up along the cliff walk. We bought some of the prize winning Cornish pasties and picnicked at the top. By the time we got down to the harbour it was starting to fill with the incoming tide and the beached fishing boats were beginning to right themselves. If we were home we would have bought some of the lobsters, fresh out of the sea. The ancient wharf buildings had been turned over to a fresh fish market. The original plan was to go through Padstow (where Rick Stein’s fame and restaurant has transformed the town) but we were both starting to feel really tired. It’s been a go go go holiday and we thought it might be best to just drive on to Truro and have a rest at the B and B before going out for dinner. The B and B is in a lovely old yellow stone building just on the fringe of the city centre. Peter and Norbert, the hosts are very welcoming and the room is very comfortable. After a rest re launched out to find somewhere for dinner. Though the streets looked empty, the eateries were well patronised. We found a pub that has a relationship with The River Cottage and so it was a no brainer that this was where we were going to eat. It both looked beautiful and tasted great. They made liberal use of a local cheese called Yarg. The pulled port came in a small oven proof dish with a coat of Yarg. John's fish had such an airy light tempura-like batter. Even the craft beer was made to a River Cottage recipe. It was all going well until we tried to leave and we both found that our knees would not cooperate. The bloody steps on that Port Isaac ramble had knackered us. it was a slow walk back home and straight to bed. Yawwwn! Catch up with you tomorrow. Cheers, Lily