I arose early in order to pack all of Falmouth in on one day. It is a sea-side town that is still a very busy shipping port. I’m also looking at a rather large cruise liner that pulled in a few hours ago. Falmouth is also where the HMS Beagle landed to drop off Charles Darwin after a wee trip to the Pacific.
A quick stop at Falmouth Art Gallery was pleasant but I was eager for more historical sites. Pendennis Castle is quite a lookout point built in 1540 by Henry VIII to keep out the pesky Spanish and the Holy Roman Empire. Elizabeth I expanded it because she thought the French were a bit pesky too. In WWII it was conscripted to be the lookout for the the pesky German fleet. The Victorians did some stuff too but mostly to keep up with the Stuarts like building barracks for the artillery.
There are lots of cannons from the various eras and a jolly good exhibition by the Volunteer Gun Firing Team of a 1943 gun. Yes. It goes bang.
The National Maritime Museum is great if you are into sailing. Even if you are not it is fascinating to see the beautiful craftsmanship of the sailboats through the recent past.
Sir Ben Ainslie’s Olympic Medal winning boats just happen to be hanging about. Literally. I also got to spend a few minutes below sea level in the Tidal observatory. The museum itself is beautiful. The temporary exhibit was stories from the Titanic. Is it bad that the thing that made it for me was Kate Winslet’s Dress from the film?
The weather has on this trip has been amazing with sun every day. I only had rain on my first day out of London. My train journey has begun and I have to say I’m quite glad that it is misty through the valleys. It has its own beauty like it is placing its own calming coda on the experience - making the journey back to London a little more peaceful
Today's Observations:
- Pebbledash is never a good look
- Even when painted
- Especially on mock Tudor
- The time printed on the ticket is NOT always the time you leave
- Sometimes the train has already left
- I love a colourfully painted street
- The 25pound WWII cannon built in 1943 has a range of 7.5-8 miles
- There is a fine line between good scampi and awful
- Usually one bite
- There is also a fine line between really good art and awful
- Usually one bite