This morning we said goodbye to Newquay and took the train to Lostwithiel, the ancient capital of Cornwall. To be completely accurate, we took 3 trains where we should have taken 2 trains. We had to change trains at Par, and as we got off the train from Newquay, a train to Plymouth (the direction we were heading) was just arriving on the other platform. So we rushed over and got onto the train to Plymouth. When we neared Lostwithiel, the train slowed but did not stop, and when we asked the conductor he told us that that train does not stop at Lostwithiel, and we would have to get off at Bodmin Parkway and catch a train back to Lostwithiel. We managed to do that and arrived at Lostwithiel only 15 minutes behind schedule.
Our B&B hosts were at Lostwithiel station to pick us up, which was a welcome first for us, especially as the B&B was about 3/4 of a mile, all uphill, from the station.
In need of sustenance, we walked up to the cafe at the Duchy of Cornwall nursery. The walk took us up a narrow tree-lined lane and out into the country.
Lane near nursery
The nursery has been around for more than 700 years, and the cafe looks across the valley to a Norman fort on the opposite hill. The plants were expensive, and the cafe was packed, despite it being after 2 pm when we arrived. We looked all over for the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall (aka Charles and Camilla), but they were nowhere to be found.
Fortified with cream teas and other goodies, we walked down into the town of Lostwithiel, which was once the centre of the Cornish tin mining industry, but it has certainly lost a lot of its lustre. Our walk took us along the river Fowey (pronounced Foy) to the "Great Bridge of Lostwithiel". The bridge was originally built in the 13th century, but was rebuilt in the 15th century and extended in the 18th century. So the age of what we were looking at is somewhat indeterminable.
When we returned to town for dinner, it was close to high tide, and all of the non-grassed area in the photograph above was under water.
The plan for tomorrow, our last day with Randy and Marty, is to visit the Eden Project, which is about 6
miles from Lostwithiel, but more on that tomorrow....
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