Attractions

Marazion Beach & St. Michael's Mount

Land's End

Cape Cornwall

Tintagel Castel

Dining

Philps Famous Pasties

1 E Quay, Hayle TR27 4BJ

The Olde Malthouse

Fore St, Tintagel PL34 0DA

Market House Inn

Magdalene Street, Glastonbury BA6 9EH

Lodging

Premier Inn Glastonbury

Morland Rd, Glastonbury BA6 9FW

Marazion and St. Michael's Mount

Our plan for today was to visit scenery along the coast of Cornwall and the skies had brightened considerably after our gloomy, foggy day yesterday. We set off for Marazion and St. Michael's Mount, a tidal island featuring a castle that was once a Benedictine monastery and eventually a manor home. We knew with our schedule we would not be able to go out to the island itself, but the coastal views were magnificent from Marazion beach.

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Mousehole

We drove through the quaint town of Mousehole as we headed for the far west coast. We would have liked to have stopped to get a pasty or roll, but as we would see throughout our journey, there was very limited parking and a lot of the small shoppes did not open early in the morning. We had hoped to stop by the Minack Theatre to see the theatre carved into the granite cliff but it was not open on the day we arrived and the car park was closed off so we could not get close enough to see anything.

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Land's End

We headed on to Land's End, Britian's most south-westerly point with 200-foot high granite cliffs rising out of the Atlantic Ocean. We had been warned this place was very commercial, and it was, so we didn't spend much time there. We skipped getting a photo at the 'famous' signpost because a peleton of bike riders had arrived just before us and were taking turns each getting a photo. We considered hiking part of the trail but knew we would have a better chance at our next stop.

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Cape Cornwall

We had been told that nearby Cape Cornwall provided much better views with fewer people than Land's End and that advice was worth it, even though getting to where we wanted to be was not easy. We had spied a ruined castle from Land's End and tried to navigate to it, but GPS sent us down a small lane that ended in a dead end and we later learned there was no way to drive to the castle. We found a car park to take in the views and thought we would do a small hike. But in for a penny, in for a pound, we ended up hiking all the way to The Stack, a chimney on the rocky headland from the old Cape Cornwall Tin Mine.

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Philps Famous Pasties

We took a small detour to the town of Hayle, looking for food. We spotted Philps Famous Pasties as well as the Royal Standard Inn at the end of town. We parked for the Royal Standard which said it was 'open all day' but a check of the posted times showed it would not open until 3PM. So we went for a couple of pasties at Philps instead. As we drove out of town, we found a couple of other pubs that appeared to be open, but it was Sunday and Father's Day and most places required pre-booking. The pasties were very filling and we realized we could have split one and been perfectly happy.

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Tintagel Castle

Tintagel Castle was one place Janie definitely wanted to visit as it is the rumored birthplace of legendary King Arthur (although there is no evidence he actually existed at all). During the 5th to 7th centuries, the fortress was the stronghold of Cornish rulers. The castle's ruins are partly on the mainland and partly on the island and we crossed a footbridge to visit the iconic sculpture of Gallos, a life-sized artwork inspired by King Arthur. There we encountered the British version of a redneck family who decided to stand and block the bridge in the middle and jump up and down on it, which earned them an admonishment from a castle employee. Tintagel was very crowded and very full of entitled people, including a group blocking the exit who were told by an employee to move along and a pair of women who stopped on the stairs going down to get the "perfect picture" of the back of one woman's hair.

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Evening

We stopped for a pint at the Olde Malthouse in Tintagel before making our way towards Glastonbury. We had hoped to get close enough to see the Glastonbury Tor, a 15th century tower that is the only remains of churches of St. Michael. But GPS sent us up a winding tight road filled with caravans of shirtless, barefoot hippies and no real views of the Tor. After circling a bit, we decided to park in town and get some food. The first place we tried had stopped serving food for the day and the second was for pre-bookings only but we found the Market House Inn and were able to order some food and beer. We met the worst stereotype of Americans while waiting to order at the bar. First they wanted the full breakfast made gluten free, but the barman told them several components had gluten. He recommended the shrimp because it was battered in panko but they did not eat fried food. He suggested the curry dish but the woman did not eat chicken and he could not guarantee the sauce did not have meat by-product. We really thought when she asked again what he would recommend that he would say "McDonald's". We understand allergies and dietary restrictions but this is a pub in Glastonbury, not a scratch kitchen so there is only going to be a couple of options, like the two salads on the menu.

After the pub, we went to our hotel for the night, the Premier Inn Glastonbury to rest up.

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