After living on nothing but beer and chocolate for 3 days in Belgium, a change of pace was nice. I spent a quick night in London and then met up with Jen and Liam, some friends I met at Oktoberfest.
They generously took me to their house an hour or so away from London so I could spend the weekend with them. On Saturday we drove out to Hastings to grab some fish and chips and check out the city. It was hilarious, as we were driving down, Jen and Liam were describing that Hastings is where the battle of Hastings took place, we googled it to find out who was actually fighting and found that the battle actually took place on October 14! The very day we were driving down! Liam and I found a pub and watched Manchester United play Liverpool, it ended 0-0 but it was fun to watch. Apparently Man U playing Liverpool is like the Leafs playing the Habs, it’s one of the biggest football games in the country, so I guess we picked a good one to watch. We then met with Jen and Liam’s family to explore a bit and grab some lunch. Then we chilled out by the beach. I guess to celebrate the battle they were having a pallet fire on the beach along with a parade and fireworks. Total coincidence! But it was great. They shot off so many fireworks that the smoke cloud grew so large you couldn’t even see them at times. It was so much fun.
The next day we went to a town called “Battle” which I guess is the exact site the battle of Hastings took place. We found out they were having a battle reinactment with like 600 people dressed in armour and swords and axes and everything. They also had a really neat falconry demonstration. I checked out battle castle, and all of the festivities before heading to the train station. I was trying to get a good picture with Jen and Liam, but I got a bit caught up in all the fun. I believe Jen has one of us all at oktoberfest, but I don’t have it yet.
From the train station I went back to London, then caught a bus to a surfing town called Newquay. Whenever I met anybody from the UK in continental Europe, I asked them what to see. They all said the province (called counties over here) of Cornwall. Newquay is the biggest sort of party town in Cornwall so I headed here. On arrival, I immediately knew it would be fun. I get strong white rock vibes from this place, but it’s a bit more accessible than white rock is. Everything is a bit more relaxed which is cool.
On my first day, I pretty much just explored. They have some famous surfing beaches I checked out, aswell as a really neat point by the water you can hike to. The storm Ophelia was hitting Ireland at the time so the wind here was crazy! Not enough to majorly damage anything, but enough that I could lean into it and stay standing. It was super sunny and the water was really green, super nice.
Day 2 was a bit more cloudy, but still good. During the summer months, there is a lot of fishing and whale/seal/bird watching going on. In October though, not so much. I still managed to find the only boat still taking people fishing and went out for a couple hours. We didn’t get a lot of fish but I was fun. We caught about 10 small mackerel on the boat, they were only about 6-7 inches long or so though. I caught one, but I was just happy to be on the water. One guy did catch a good sized haddock though, so that was cool. I just chilled out for the rest of the day. I met about 20 British navy engineers on vacation at my hostel so we hung out for the night.
Next up is Bristol. My bus leaves in a couple hours. Should be fun!
Pictures:
Sounds li!ke you’re having a lot of fun and getting a history lesson too! Have a great time in Bristol
On your way to Cornwall you had to pass thru Devon…that is where your Tucker ancestors came from…mostly Ilfrascombe…
You are certainly seeing the country…glad you were able to visit with your friends.
Stay safe.
Yep! My friends live in Devon, so we spent a bit of time there.