Tuesday, 11th April, 2023
After one last breakfast at "The Fieldings", we left to head towards
Port Isaac. On the way, we made an unscheduled visit to the Screech Owl Sanctuary. As the name
suggests, it is the home of a parliament of owls together with a few
other creatures. Unfortunately, the weather had changed and it was
very cold and quite rainy. This fact, together with the inability to
take good photos because of the way there were barriers in front of
the aviaries, made me feel that it wasn't a great place. Luckily, a
keeper came past with a little owl (liitle in terms of size and the
name of the species) on her hand. She stopped and chatted and
allowed me to get a couple of good photos. After a warming cup of
tea, we went to the barn for a flight demonstration. This was
excellent and I could get great photos. Then we decided that we
would pay an extra £40 for an owl "experience". This allowed each of
us to hold three different owls over a half-hour period. This, too,
was excellent. Not only were we able to hold owls (something neither
of us had done before) but we could also get great photos!
The breakfast room at "The Fieldings"
The camera struggled to take clear photos through the wire but
this one and a few others are OK.
It was so cold that the meerkats stayed indoors and peered out
at us!
The Little Owl
"I just don't get what the people find so interesting about
these things!"
This pygmy goat decided that this was as far out of his rooms
that he would go.
An owl in flight during the flight demonstration
A kestrel was part of the flight demonstration.
A British Barn Owl was another participant in the flight
demonstration. They are almost totally silent when they fly so
as not to warn their prey of impending doom.
This barn owl was named "Spicy".
"Aztec" is a Spectacled Owl.
The third owl we met was "Iggy", an Indian Scops Owl.
We
then made our way to Prideaux Place
at Padstow. It seemed to be even colder and wetter by then!
We had a tour of this Elizabethan mansion. The guide was
very enthusiastic but not very knowledgeable and everything
was either "lovely" or "interesting"! Unfortunately, we were
not allowed to take photos but it was an enjoyable and
indeed "interesting" tour nonetheless.
The carrot, range and ginger soup was
delicious!
The next stop was
Port Isaac (the filming location for the TV series "Doc
Martin". It seemed to be colder and wetter again! Satoshi
ventured out to see some of the locations but I decided to
stay in the warm and dry car while I checked up on our next
destination, Tintagel Castle. Some of Satoshi's photos are
below.
The tide was out at the harbour,
This is Doc Martin's house.
Very
disappointingly, there was a message on the website
"Unfortunately due to high winds the castle is currently
closed". I was very disappointed about that because I had
been wanting to visit Tintagel since I was quite young,
having an interest in the Arthurian legends. As we were
staying at Camelot Castle Hotel for the night, we headed to
Tintagel anyway. When we got there, I could not believe the
wind! I don't think I have ever been in windier conditions.
At times, it was literally diffucult to remain upright.
Camelot Castle Hotel was built in 1899. There are views of
Tintagel Castle from the hotel so at least I got to see it
from afar. As you can see, it is quite quirky. I'm looking
forward to sleeping in the four-post bed! The hotel's
restaurant proved to be an excellent choice for dinner and
we returned to our room. It was at this point that I
regretted my decision not to complete a journal entry last
night. There were 235 photos to sort through from yesterday
and then 199 for today! It only took three and a half hours!
The hotel concierge thought that there would still be a
possibility of the castle opening tomorrow. We shall see.
A view of the coast from Camelot
Castle Hotel
Our room with the four-poster bed
The staircase down to the lounge
area. Note the "round table".
Part of the ruins of Tintagel Castle
This bridge saves visitors have to descend and then ascend
140 steep steps. It was installed in 2019.
Looking at the trees and bushes will give you some idea of
the howling wind.
An elegant table for discerning diners! (We liked it too!)
Today, the money
that had been taken out of our account by the original car
rental company was returned. It was a total of around $5000
as they had taken the insurance bond out twice. This was a
great relief! We still need to try to get a refund for the
actual rental fee that we paid months ago. We shall see.