Alternative London

We went on a walking tour of London’s East-End with Alternative London. I’d done the tour before and it was amazing, the second time round the guide wasn’t as good and it poured with rain. Still, for a tour where you can pay what you like it’s pretty damn cool. And we saw some choice art.

Sam liked that we learnt a little bit about the history of the area too – I don’t remember much but I do remember that there are dragon boundary marks which show where the Romans set the boundary to the City of London, separating it from the City of Westminster. There are red and white bollards in the square mile that is the 'City' and black around the rest of London. 

The red and white also signifies the business part of town (where I work) and it gives artists a guide as to where to put their art - although it's generally illegal anywhere, people are more tolerant in the trendy eastern suburbs than they are in the CBD. 

Cornish Pasties & Clotted Cream

On a Wednesday afternoon we jumped on the train and headed down to Cornwall. We stayed with relatives of mine – Ali, Richard, Robert & Hannah.

Ali picked us up from the train station at Plymouth and then drove us across to where they live in Maker – population 14 – in a beautiful 1800s farm house. Obviously, it’s been renovated since then though (and split in to three separate homes).

Upon arrival we headed down to the Rame gig club and watch Rob head out for a row.

The next day we headed over to the neighbours property and picked up a gorgeous border collie puppy, Hector, for a walk. This made me veeeerrry happy. Hector had a great time trying to round up mine and Sam's shadows the whole time we were out. The look of confusion when the sun went behind a cloud and the shadows disappeared was priceless. 

While we were out walking, we also met a pug. 

Then we dropped him home and wandered in to the Kingsand and Cawsand villages to explore.

Sam had his first ever Cornish Pasty. For the record (English people) a pasty is very tasty, but not a pie.

That day we made it to three of the five pubs in the area. I think Sam was disappointed we didn’t make it to The Rising Sun – he thought they had the best name. We did make it to The Devonport Inn, The Cross-Keys Inn and the Cawsand Bay Hotel. There we had an excellent view of the water and watched Ali head out rowing in a gig.

The next day we were all set to head to ‘sports day’ at Rob & Hannah’s school but it was unfortunately cancelled because of bad weather. We picked them up early and drove down to their holiday place in Porthleven.

On Saturday the weather was beautiful so we walked along the cliffs to a beautiful spot on the beach. The cliffs brought back memories of Lagos – many sheer drops and landslips.

There are old forts and mines everywhere too. 

There is a small person in this photo... can you spot them?

There we played in the freezing cold water and met another border collie puppy who was having his first day at the beach. We had a play with him and then the owners tried to leave and the puppy came running back barking and trying to round up Hannah.

Later in the afternoon we headed back home via the pub – The Ship Inn.

Later that afternoon wandered to the beach at Porthleven and then went for a drink up the hill at The Atlantic Inn.

On a side note – I like how many pubs feature in this post. Cider in Cornwall is good.

The next day we went to St Michaels Mount – a touristy, but very cool island (you can walk across when the tide is low) with a castle at the top. There we were treated to a cream tea. Except Sam had coffee. The scones with jam and clotted cream were delicious. After that we jumped on the train at Penzance for a long ride back to Windsor.

We had a fabulous time in Cornwall – beautiful beaches, cute puppies and great hosts!