Mousehole and Homeward Bound

It was my last day in Penzance on Monday and I made the most of it. Firstly by keeping to my word by having a cooked breakfast. I was going to be out all day without rest so a bigger breakfast than usual would be fine.

I had to check out at 10am and I wanted a head start to my day as it would be cut short(ish). I usually got tired around 4pm anyway but I still wanted to explore some places in Penzance that I'd missed. I caught the bus to Mousehole the last place I wanted visit on my trip. I had been there once before when I was younger and I knew about it from the famous book The Mousehole Cat.

The bus ride went a different way to the previous days as Mousehole is only a 15 minutes away from Penzance even though it is in the same direction as Land's End. There were a few curious tourists on the bus with me and we all wondered around in the same direction. Mousehole is very small and as the lady in the Pilchard Press Tea Rooms told me, it is made up of 75% holiday homes and during the Winter months it is like a ghost village. It was very windy on the last day and actually quite cold. But that didn't stop me from climbing around the rocks near the harbour walls. I had done this before when I was younger. My parents showed me photographs when I got home. But after a while I needed some warmth so I went and had a Cornish Tea,  but with coffee. The scones were homemade this time, so extra delicious.

Then I wondered around the very shops, well art galleries. I wondered into The Little Picture Gallery and stared in awe some of the artwork in there. But the greatest surprise of them all was finding a book and artwork by one of my favourite artists when I was young, Michelle Cartlidge.

The owner of the gallery told me she lived just around the corner. I was tempted to go round and knock on her door but I thought that would be weird. The gallery owner was also an artist, and his wife and his son. They were selling a few postcards of their own work so I bought a few. I love buying postcards so I was more than happy to. I also bought a copy of the book above (and its signed!). This was my holiday present to myself, as well as that smugglers brew tea.

After getting excited over that little discovery I wondered into the only other postcard related shop, The Cat & Mouse. It was postcard heaven! I ended picking quite a lot in there, but I say you never have enough postcards.

I caught the bus back into Penzance and finally went to Archie Brown's vegetarian cafe. I treated myself to some homemade orange cafe (its was amazing) and some good old coffee. I sat there for quite some time writing about 10 pages. Then I picked up a Cornish Hen sandwich for the train journey and finally walked down historical Chapel Street. I had a look in some of the shops but The Artist in Residence Hostel was closed and I had really wanted to look around there. I also got to have a good long stare at The Admiral Benbow. Can you see the character on the roof? And yes that is a pirate flag.

After the walkabout I collected my bag from the B&B and made my way back to the train station. It was sad to leave. Unlike other holidays, you get that 'ok its time to go home now' but not with Cornwall. Maybe because its in the UK and doesn't feel like I'm leaving.

I was early at the station so I finished watching Hyde Park on Hudson (more on that later). Luckily this time round, there were mini TVs on the back of the seats on the train, so I had a great time watching Wallander and Vexed on the way home.

I had a great time in Cornwall and I will most certainly be going back!