When on the Road

be flexible , build in time for relaxing
I think that we might overdo that last one

Our goal to - day was train to Penzance
bus to Lands End 
walk around look for Newfoundland across the pond
Go home

Poured rain off and on , during the night , wind were gusting 40 mph. The day started the same
We rode the train 10 miles each way , great view of the sea
walked into St Ives , sat on the seawall , grabbed a beer.
The pub was the Union Inn and the beer ' Theakston Mild ' and a little more walking
We ended up at Porthmeor Cafe above the beach. Duck and confrit
for me - crab sandwich for M
Devine ,w/ a capital ' D ' for delicious

We didn't go far but we did well - then a nap

The train ride was dry , the day was dry , til after we got home.

perfect day

how was yours ?

Last night or day ( back in old time zone ) Johns Hopkins built a lead in the last half and hung on by one goal. Their foe , Univ of Syracuse , had beaten the Black and Blue several times since 2008
in NCAA year end action. The result was that the 10 th ranked team beat #2 in the tourney. The biggest upset of the Championships , which eclipsed when 13 th ranked JHU knocked off ,  #7 Univ of Va.
Barely. Mammoth upsets , both of them

Now , off to Philly ..... to face , U of Md - a grudge match
Maryland v Maryland as the locals read it , in the semi finals

The West Country

of England , Cornwall , Devon.
No surprise but buildings , legends and history are old.
The birthplace of the King Arthur myth , standing stones and rings

And amusement parks based on farming , nature conservancy and plain old fun - waterparks  , ordinary zoos etc.

In the lacrosse world ( Amer College ) , the focus are the quarters for the NCAA championship. Yesterday , the Fighting Irish beat the Great Danes of Albany and the Pioneers of Denver beat Ohio State.
This afternoon , in Annapolis , the Maryland v North Carolina and the Syracuse v Johns Hopkins games happen.
Go ! Hop

The weather is cool , gray and broken by sun.

Time to start downhill

Lunch to -day , at Porthmeor Cafe , bch of the same name.
I had tapas - salad spinach , crushed almonds and baby tomatoes
M had the omelet brunch
Fantastic ! 
Our view above ,from the deck of Porthmeor Cafe , sitting in a pod 
or enclosed booth w/ heater , lifeguards training on the sand or in the surf

About the Place

This ST Ives , Cornwall
A seaside town , likely fishing based , shipping 
To -day , tourism is big , us and the others. 
The town climbs up the hills in all directions
There is a rule of navigation , going home , you go uphill , when you get level , watch out b/c you need to know where you are.

Our room is up 3 flights and thats OK b/c everything is this local is up 3 flights

Except for McDs on the road , we have tried to eat local food , fish pie , crab tart and steak and mushroom pie etc.

In a town the size of our shopping mall back home - we got lost
We knew where we were but not the restaurant we had pre - chosen
Thus , we settled for the safe choice , the Sloop Inn , oldest in St Ives. The pub has you walk to the bar and order drinks. For food , the same , walk up , give your table # and order. Food is brought to  your table.

EE is our service provider for cell and data. I've explained the deal we got and how pleased we were. Yesterday , EE had a fit !. We went from ' your service has expired ' message to the original promised call , text and data limits , back to the real numbers - all in 2 - 3 hours.We figure that we may be OK now.
I'm using the i Phone map function but other than ' pinning ' the public washroom and finding roughly where I am - I'm not confident in navigating w/ the map function. 
This town is laid out in a semi - circle but not everyone who built a street or lane was in on the plan.
We wander down the hill , find the tourists and roughly follow the ' bread crumbs ' so to speak. 
Loads of art galleries , and the nautical theme is everywhere.

I look at the

And the Sea Gulls cry

The gulls were up early. We are in the attic , sloped ceilings , nicely appointed.
The air is sea air and the water blue
Full breakfast and full me

weather : full sun and cool , as promised 50 ish

H'Audi

Hired a car in Bath
The car is an Audi ( A3 )
It navigated down the M5 and A30

Weather : rain all day
We get to St Ives and the sun broke out but not the warmth
probably 50 F or a little more

The view form our room - 'Magnifico ! '
" Location ,location , location ! " is what you pay for
We did

Using the i Phone 4s

Dinner venue , was the ' Sloop Inn ' the captains table
Fish pie
Hand picked St Ives crab meat - open face - on sun dried tomato bread + aioli dressing My next meal and my next meal , too !

EE & Me

Recall , the Car Phone Warehouse , in ColdHarbour Ln , Hayes , Middlesex, sold us the 1 GBP SIM card and the top up 10 GBP.
The remaining value on the top up - 143 min of talk , 473 Mb of data. Bearing in mind that the i Phone is updating emails all day and I've been using the ' location ' feature to navigate
 - actually navigate is being generous , I only get less lost. Bath is built from a walled central core and then arterials added on. There is a system of through roads but I haven't figured it out. 
We get home b/c we are on the A4 or London Rd. And if you can't find the A4 , well , you are lost.

 To find us , go to a map of Bath.
Find the A4 ( London Rd ). Identify the A46 route , branching off the M4 from London ( M , for Motorway or I series , Interstate equivalent ) on the east of Bath. Find the A36 , leading to central Bath. We are in between A36 and A46.

The beer of the day , Tues was Bell Ringer ale at Sam Wellers Pub
In researching bath pubs , I don't recall this one. Archetypical Br pub narrow , wood and brass. Friendly bartender and , of course , I had fried food ( bad boy ! ). Scampi and chips .... and peas

We got sun , all day. We returned to Roman Bath Square and listened to a violinist ( not my cup of tea , as they say here )
We wandered home but M tripped and cut her lip. Blood was everywhere. Passsersby stopped and helped. One fellow came running out of his house w/ a roll of tissue. We walked by the surgery and by then the bleeding had all but stopped. We limped home. Kuckily , this place has a washing machine and , of course , we've been here long enough that it was like coming home

Handily Morrisons ( full grocery ) is 3 minutes away and I slipped out for straws , and snacks for dinner.

and we have sun again , to - day

Road Notes

A style of travel
Our ( my ) predilection is to stay put while vacationing
First , some clarifications
' vacation ' , we are retired , we don't get to vacation.  A vacation is a spell away from the ' humdrum of normal life ' - ipso facto , we are touring
' touring ' implies moving. We don't move.
We have been in Bath , now , for 5 days.
Yesterday , the group of 3 visited the ' Roman Baths ' , the 1 st C baths created by the Romans and restored by the Bathians of to - day. The group incl M was in there for 2 hrs.
This time allowed me to : a find a washroom , saunter about and get a beer.
My choice was the smallest pub in Bath , named the Coeur de Lion.
The beer was Adnans , SouthWold Bitter ,a  very good brew.
Previously , I had tried Gem bitter in Bathampton Mill ( upstream from Bath ) , Wadworth ale in the Saracen's Head in Bath ( the oldest in Bath , built 1713 ).

And yesterday , as well John Smith ale and Butcombe bitter in the Crystal Palace. John was the loser , here , OK    but Butcombe , splendid
Back to the time alone in Bath. Sat on a bench , listening to the buskers in Abbey Square , I basked in sun ( first for our trip ) and struck up two conversations.
Chris             ( later hubby Rick ) from Washington State.
                      Their plans for 3 weeks incl. London , Bath , Wales ,                          the Midlands of Eng. , Scotland ( Edinburgh and                                Inverness ) . She added , ' we may have been over                              ambitious '.
Helga             is an ex - pat tour guide for German visitors arriving                         by bus. She was the locum hired by tour companies.                         She  has lived in Bath for 19 yrs. Her last group ?                              German tourists dropped of by bus and picked up 2                          hrs later. The upshot ? 1 1/2 hr in Bath. Helga said                            they ran  through Bath Abbey church. The bus was                            headed for Southampton and the ferry home.
 I added ' we are here , for 7 days , just looking '. Helga said ' fantastic , you are doing it right '. No , we didn't pay her to say that.
As we were leaving , discussing pubs - our days seem to revolve around food and / or beer , Helga walked over and said ' the Couer de Lion is nice - try the Crystal Palace. Ah , thats how you got there , you say.  Yepper !! The Lion , as they say here , specializes in most things fried , not the beer, though.
Oh , we got pooped on by pigeons ( ? ) as we sat in the garden patio of Crystal Palace
- nasty greeny looking stuff - ugh and ugh.