After a run along the Bristol Bath cycle track (me) and a bit of Tabata exercise (Keith) we quickly demolished our breakfast, packed up and set off cross country to the M5 on a surprisingly good journey down to Helston, Cornwall.

The sun was shining (it has been very on/off this week) and thankfully the cars were moving as the journey took just under 5 hours with a quick lunch stop. The only slow part was the last 10 miles where we drove past the air base and they were kindly putting on an Airshow to celebrate our arrival (ahem… ok perhaps not).

The CL site (Skewes Farm, £12.50 per night) is about 5 miles outside Helston and apart from the planes (and the odd Cow moo-ing – it is a cattle farm) it was pretty quiet and suited the purpose for a couple of nights. Unfortunately it had a very large apple tree leaning over the driveway and I have now scarred Mika for life…. and am not being allowed to forget it 😦

On Friday morning, as the sun was shining we decided to go for a walk which took us onto the south west coastal path and whatever anyone says you really can’t beat the Cornish coast for beauty….

We have travelled 10,000 miles through France, Spain, Portugal and Italy and I still don’t think we have come across better views …. although we were lucky with the weather and found a rather lovely spot to eat lunch looking out over Mullion Cove….

Tranquility over, Saturday was ‘moving day’ as the Anderson / Parker family were descending on Cornwall to get settled ahead of the forthcoming wedding. So, after a quick run, a necessary stop at Sainsbury’s we wiggled our way down a very narrow road (so glad we didn’t meet anyone coming the other way) to get to Polpidnick Farm where Angie and David had very kindly offered to let us park up the motorhome as Paul & Carly (the couple to be….) and some of the wedding party were staying in the cottages there.

With the normal changeover traffic, Cornwall enforced some slightly horrific travel times on a few, but the early birds (those who really did leave at ridiculous hours) made record time arriving just before 9:30am, and others (who also left at ridiculous hours of the morning – albeit coming slightly further from Hull) took 12+ hours not getting to us until late afternoon….. thankfully a bit of good food and a few glasses of something strong soon lowered stress levels 🙂

In between the eating, drinking and catching up with family, Keith and I managed to get a couple of walks in, one over to Helford Passage (stopping off briefly at the pub which was pretty nice) and another over to meet some friends (Sarah, Rich Wesley and kids) who just so happened to be staying in Coverack (also to the pub oddly…. it was raining – a lot)

The wedding was on Tuesday and someone up above managed to influence the weather as it was beautiful. Despite the forecast predicting gale force winds and torrential rain, it actually managed to clear and provide us with some blue skies and sunshine so the ceremony could be held outside….

The hotel sat just above St Ives and had the most beautiful grounds… so I think the photos the photographer took will be beautiful, but here are a few of mine to set the scene 🙂

After the hangover and tiredness subsided it was time for us to move on and head out of Cornwall in an attempt to beat the rush and get back towards London to catch up with the Becker family and a few friends in London.

After arriving back at my parents on Thursday we then spent the weekend catching up with some really good old friends – Friday in North London with Jonah, Karen and the kids, Saturday lunch with Gary and Aimee and kids (Chloe’s 2nd birthday …. what a great swing), Saturday late afternoon and evening with Keith’s school friends in Windsor and then back over to Richmond on Sunday to see Richard (Gonzo).

Needless to say, having weighed ourselves and confirmed how we feel is reflected in reality we are now ready for a bit of a detox after the last seven weeks in the UK….. perhaps we can get a few days in before we meet up with parents and brother on Friday 🙂