Bikes, Piggies and Bunnies

The exercise freaks amongst us, and no boys and girls, that does not include me, decided to ride the coast to coast trail today.

Paul has his own high spec bike, and Karen and Dave hired theirs from the local cycle hire company.

The coast to coast is 22 miles of torture in my opinion, however, these three loved every minute of it.

Having collected their bikes, they headed over to Portreath for the beginning of their ride on the North Coast.

I met them all there for a quick photo op, and then left them to it so I could get some housework done.
Once they had completed their ride over to Devoran and back to the Bissoe cycle hire company, we met for a butty from their cafe, and then all headed down to Treasure Park.

Time to fulfil the children inside….. to paint our pottery money boxes.

Mine was a piggy, that I named Daisy.  Karen had previously done a piggy, so decided on a Bunny….

We had such fun.

What a great day

Jo Anne

Boating and Floating

With the arrival of Karen and Dave from Brum, we decided to do a day full of water based activities.

JB and Sally-Ann arrived, and we headed into Falmouth for the first water related item….. a boat trip up the Fal.

Although we have done this trip with Sally-Ann many times, the others had not done it before, and what a great day to spend on the water.

The captain did his usual commentary to keep up entertained, and us girlies did the obligatory Kate Winslet stance at the front of the boat.

It was a lovely couple of hours, on the most perfect blue sky and sunshine day.

Once we were land locked once more, we headed back home for the wet suits and body boards for part two of the day…. boogie boarding at Portreath.

We had a fantastic day and after all that fresh air and sunshine were worn out.

Jo Anne

The Best Kept Secret Ever…

Since the end of October I have been planning and scheming with Karen (P’s sister) and Marg (P’s Mum) to arrange for them to come down from Birmingham to Cornwall for the weekend of Paul’s birthday.

The amount of double meaning telephone conversations and voice messages that have been made and left over the past few months in order that he did not work it out has been incredible.

Well the plan worked.  Karen rang the doorbell first, and I sent him to answer it, while his mum hid around the corner.  She then rang the doorbell, and the tears and happiness flowed.

What a blindingly wonderful weekend of love, and hugs and family and relaxation and good food.

Thank you both for helping to make Paul’s weekend so wonderful.

 

Jo Anne

 

Christmas Light Parade

For the first time since we have lived in Cornwall, both Jannah-Beth and Denise are available on the night of the City of Lights Festival.  They invited us to join them in their trip to Truro to watch the parade.

We all arrived early enough to get some supper first, however I think half of Cornwall had the same idea, so we grabbed a quick drink and a piece of cake before taking our places on the high street.

JB was not happy with the alleged chill in the air, and could not understand why we were all warm enough!

The parade began, this year based on Kings and Queens.

It was another great night with a lovely Christmassy atmosphere with the with the switch on of the lights part way through the parade.

Jo Anne

Jannah-Beth Gets Inked

With the loss of her Dad, JB wanted to have a tattoo as a permanent token of her love for him.

Dee, Jannah’s Mum and Pau’s step-mum, had asked that Paul ensure that she use a good artist and was safe, as Paul had a couple of tattoo’s himself, when we first moved to Cornwall.

The design was drawn up based on her wishes, by her friends Mum, and it was just a matter of making an appointment for a consultation.

This weekend JB was staying with us.  Paul suggested that on the Saturday, once we had eaten breakfast, we head down to St Ives and see if we could speak with someone he was recommended to see as Jannah’s prospective tattoo artist/studio.

Shoreline Tattoo had been used on many occasions by various people that we knew, and their work was award winning – literally.  The latest award being at the Plymouth Tattoo convention last year, based on some work they had done on a lad that Paul worked with.

We arrived and JB spoke with the lovely chap that greeted us, explaining that she had a design that she wanted to know if she could have done.

Mike came and took a look at it, and said if she could wait, he had just had a cancellation and was able to tweak the design and do the work there and then.  With about a 10 second pause, she jumped at the opportunity.

When Mike came back with his interpretation of her design it was awesome.  We all agreed it was the perfect and fitting way for her to remember her Dad.

She was soon taken upstairs, and with the permission of Mike, I was told I could take pictures if I wished for blogging.  Thank god I always carry my camera!

Mike asked her to straddle the chair like the cowboys do in movies and lean forward so that he had a clear and easy ‘canvas’ to work on.

Paul looked on, so proud of her as she didn’t even flinch throughout the whole thing!

In less than an hour it was all over.  Now it was time to call Dee and tell her that the consultation had ended up in being a little bit more than she expected…

Immediately after the job was done it looked stunning.

Her Dads initials encased in angel wings that formed a heart. I thought it even looked like an angel with bowed head and clasped hands from some angles.

Coming from someone who is not keen on tattoo’s, I have to say that this was just a beautiful piece of artwork.

We were so proud of our little sister today.  She rose above the small amount of pain in order to achieve something that was so important to her.

We Love You JB!

Jo Anne

 

Beach!

Today we spent time in Perranporth with Jannah-Beth, Dee and the dogs.

It’s all still very strange not having their Dad around, but it’s amazing how the sea air and beach can put things into perspective when you need them to.

The lovely walk on the beach tired out Fred and Gem before we had to return to Tregurrian once more.

Jo Anne

 

Sedate Sunday? Not a Chance!

This morning we headed off towards Newquay, and Healey’s Cider Farm.

This is a great free day out, with the opportunity of sampling the wares on offer too!

Having had a quick walk around the grounds, and meeting some of the animals,

we headed in to do some sampling of the ciders, and to book a ride on the tractor through the orchards.

Fred was with us, and made to feel very welcome by the staff at Healey’s, and was allowed in everywhere except the main shop and Jam rooms.

The tractor ride was an experience to behold.  The trip itself was great, but we were certainly entertained by the other couple that joined us in the trailer….. mmmm! Well it gave us a few giggles for the rest of the day anyway LOL

Once the ride was over, we returned to the shop to purchase a few things, and then headed off the Callestick Farm for an Ice Cream and an embarrassing picture of Karen doing naughty things to a cow!

It was not far off lunch time now, so we drove over to Trelissick Gardens for some lunch in the cafe, and a 3 mile walk around the extended grounds.

Once back at the house, we vegged out for a while, and then Karen and Dave took Jannah-Beth back to Perranporth so that they could get some more time with Mel and Dee.

Tomorrow Karen and Dave head home, and we hook the caravan back up and drive up to Bude for the last leg of our holiday.

Its certainly been a fun filled few days, with glorious sunshine and fantastic company.

Jo Anne

Another Day of Sightseeing

We started our day at Botallack, walking right the way down to the bottom most mine building…. yes that one down there on the picture below!

Having got down there we had to get back up….. my inhaler was in the car at the top!  That was a long walk LOL

From here it was onwards to Lands End and our picnic…

Karen, Dave and Paul went off for a plod whilst Jannah-Beth and I grabbed a coffee and rested after the walk up from Botallack.  We then followed on to the farm area.  Ours was a shorter walk as we could not see the others at all, and had no idea which direction they had taken.

Once we had all met up once more, we decided to head over to Minack, as it was only a short drive up the coast.

We love it here, and just sat in the amphitheatre and soaked up the rays of the sun for a couple of hours.

It was suddenly time for us to head home, and get ready for a night out in Perranporth with Mel and Dee.

We had a wonderful meal and plenty of laughs before heading home for a nightcap and rest.  Another full day was ahead of us tomorrow!

 

Jo Anne