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Posted: 02-07-2011 00:11 Post subject:

Well, I got back to Tehidy Park. Straightforward travel planning, except that one bus ran 20 minutes late... Rolling Eyes

But I was rather disappointed, on the whole. The park consists largely of woodland walks, and while trees and dappled sunlight are pleasant enough, I find a little goes a long way!

I'd hoped for some good views of the old country house, but that was in an area reserved for residents only.

There are a couple of ponds and a lake to relieve the woodland tedium, but it's hard to photograph swans or even gulls in bright sunshine because of contrast issues.

Now I don't like to walk 'there and back again', so I was looking for an alternative exit. I had a large-scale map which suggested a couple of possibilities, but as I trudged ever further into the woods these seemed to evaporate. And again I felt the fear of being trapped in woodland - I hadn't seen anyone else for ages, and I don't have a mobile phone. If I'd twisted my knee or sprained my ankle I might not have been found for days!

I'd followed the edge of the woods, but they were fenced with barbed wire, presumbably to keep farm animals in the fields, but that also kept me in the woods! To cut a long story short, I found an escape route which led into someone's back garden! But I was so desperate to get away from the woods I didn't care, and luckily no-one seemed to be home to notice me, so I made my way to a minor road and a level walk back to 'civilization' (ie. somewhere I could catch a bus!).

Really I don't like woods - they seem very lifeless, although you'd think they'd be full of twittering birds, squirrels, etc. I prefer open country with distant views of hills and a glimpse of an estuary or the sea.

Eventually I found a bus stop and shelter, but there was no timetable posted. I had my own timetable, so I sat in the shelter to see when the next bus was due. But the shelter was set back in foliage, and I suddenly worried that I could be sat there while a bus went straight by! So I moved out, and amazingly a bus was coming - I signalled frantically and he stopped. (Did I have a pyschic moment, or was it just coincidence?)

An odd day. I'd noticed some of the details on my map did not match reality, even though I thought it was one of my newer maps. But when I checked, it was last updated in 1997!

At least I wasn't arrested for trespassing!

Posted: 02-07-2011 08:34 Post subject:

Posted: 02-10-2011 11:50 Post subject:

I think this fits in here:

Around the world in our home-made plane (... and we’re still speaking to each other!)
By Jonathan Petre
Last updated at 10:45 PM on 1st October 2011

After a year and a day, 99 flights, 23 countries and bags of teamwork, an intrepid couple have flown around the world in a tiny home-made plane they spent 16 years building.
Retired British Airways pilot Patrick Elliott and his wife Linda Walker are believed to be the first married couple to have circumnavigated the globe in a home-built aircraft.
On their epic voyage they diced with death and saw wonders including the Taj Mahal and the Pyramids at Giza.

But according to Linda, 57, their greatest achievement is ‘the fact that we’re still speaking’.
The former City worker said: ‘You are cooped up in a tiny cockpit together and when you land you can be in stressful situations, unable to speak the language and having to think on your feet. But we worked brilliantly as a team. I can’t wait for our next adventure.’

The couple used 1,320 gallons of fuel costing £12,000 and Patrick admitted it probably would have been cheaper to get first-class tickets round the world, ‘but that would be missing the point’.
He said: ‘Now we are home, it’s hard to believe we have actually done it.’ Cool

The pair, from Reigate in Surrey, started work on the plane, a Rutan Long-EZ, in 1991 between Patrick’s BA flights.

They paid £500 for a third-hand manual of instructions and plans for the self-build aeroplane written by leading Nasa engineer Burt Rutan.
Patrick said: ‘As a BA pilot, I was flying passengers all over the world but I had only 24 hours at each destination.
'I didn’t expect to take 16 years. I had to extend the garage half-way through when we outgrew it'
'I wanted the chance to fly round at my own pace and see some of these amazing places. I read about these self-build planes and decided that was how I could do it.’

He had to sculpt, shape and put together every part of the body by hand, carefully following the complicated directions, many of them hand-written and drawn.
Each part was made with different types of foam, covered in fibre glass to withstand pressures of flying, then sealed in resin. The couple went shopping all over America for the more obscure parts, bringing them home in four suitcases and a ski bag, and had an engine imported from New York.
Patrick said: ‘I lost count a long time ago of the hours I spent on it. I can’t even guess. The same for the money. I could have easily bought a commercially made aeroplane for the amount it cost.
‘The record for building one is 18 months. I didn’t expect to take 16 years. I had to extend the garage half-way through when we outgrew it.’

Linda said: ‘At first I called it The Canoe. I could never imagine flying in it. Then the wings went on, and it started to look like a real aeroplane. I realised we were really going up in it.’
Their first flight was in 2007 and they took short trips, such as dropping in to the Isle of Wight for ‘a cup of tea’, before venturing further afield.

After 18 months of planning and negotiations with far-flung airfields, they took off around the world in September 2010. The couple spent 241 hours and 22 minutes in the air in the 16ft 7in long plane before returning home last month.
Speaking of the 37,398-mile journey, Patrick, 57, said: ‘The plane was brilliant and was a real talking point wherever we landed and helped us meet some really interesting people.’

He said there had been a couple of hairy moments, especially when making a difficult approach in strong winds to a small landing strip in Crete.
‘I thought the aircraft was going to hit the ground harder than it eventually did. My heart was in my mouth, but we got down safely.’
The couple did an average of 155mph at an average altitude of up to 6,500ft.
They now hope to fly from the north to the south of Africa, before attempting an ambitious journey from Pole to Pole.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2044131/Couple-fly-world-home-plane.html#ixzz1ZcVlkh4K

Posted: 02-10-2011 12:01 Post subject:

It's such a small plane...where did they put all the luggage?

Posted: 02-10-2011 12:13 Post subject:

Posted: 06-10-2011 22:09 Post subject:

Now here's a prog that's right up my street: take a bunch of London based thespians exploring Cornwall without maps or satnav!

I'm used to navigating by the sun, but even so I did pick up one or two other tips from this prog, which also explored several areas I've been to.

All Roads Lead Home - Episode 1

Stephen Mangan, Sue Perkins and Alison Steadman travel the UK. Sue Perkins takes charge in Cornwall and leads Stephen Mangan and Alison Steadman from Bodmin Moor to Cape Cornwall.

Stephen Mangan, Sue Perkins and Alison Steadman ditch their maps and compasses and attempt to travel the UK using nature as their only guide. The sun, the trees and even sheep droppings are their new sat nav, all providing clues to point them in the right direction. Each episode is led by one of the trio as they travel to a place of special significance to them.

Sue Perkins takes charge in Cornwall and leads Stephen Mangan and Alison Steadman from Bodmin Moor to Cape Cornwall. But as amateur navigators they soon discover that one wrong turn could mean disaster. Along the way, Sue takes to the skies and consults some wise women as to why her life has led her to Cornwall.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b015r93h/All_Roads_Lead_Home_Episode_1/

Posted: 20-03-2013 18:02 Post subject:

Today I went to Hayle to get some photos of the rediscovered sluice gates of Copperhouse Pool North Sluice. They were further east along King George V Memorial Walk than I expected, so rather than go back to my normal bus stop, I continued east. I thought I'd once seen a footpath that way alongside a stream that looked a pleasant route, but I soon found myself on a straight and wide track that I didn't recall seeing before. Maybe I hadn't seen it before, but it shows on the OS map, so maybe it has recently been widened and resurfaced. (There were signs of fresh earthworking either side.)

Halfway along I came to a stone bridge over a stream. It bore a blue plaque saying this was once a railway bridge on the oldest line in Cornwall! Which was nice! It looks like the line originally ran along KGVMW, so maybe it was a branch off the Hayle branch line... I have heard of a railway to a one-time gunpowder works between Hayle and Gwithian. I'll have to check the dates, and the history.

Anyhow, that was an unexpected and pleasing find. I went looking for one piece of history, and then got a bonus! When I check my photos later I'll pass on the details from the plaque. (Unfortuneately the plaques are white lettering on pale blue - not easy to read, and even harder to photograph!)

Posted: 20-03-2013 22:25 Post subject:

OK, the blue plaques are provided by Hayle Townscape/Cornish Mining World Heritage:

This one reads:

RAILWAY BRIDGE

Hayle Railway, 1837. Unmodified since 1852, when the railway was diverted to its present location by the West Cornwall Railway. The earliest standard gauge bridge in Cornwall.

[Scheduled Ancient Monument]

Posted: 21-03-2013 11:36 Post subject:

I was googling for something else about Hayle when I came across this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayle_Railway

which answers many of my questions! Serendipity! Cool

Posted: 22-03-2013 00:53 Post subject:

Posted: 14-06-2013 09:19 Post subject:

Here's a chap who gets around a bit:

Mugged, robbed, attacked, strip-searched! That's not going to stop intrepid Penryn explorer
6:00am Friday 14th June 2013 in Falmouth/Penryn .

Tony Clarke, aged 67 has visited the Russian steppes, Kazakhstan, China, South America, across the Andes, through Central America, the US and Canada and around Australia. A serial explorer from Penryn is about to embark on a fresh adventure to the arctic tundra.

Tony Clarke, aged 67, has lived in the town for nearly 40 years but unknown to most of his neighbours, he is an intrepid traveller.
His obsession began in the 1970’s when he and Tim Ferris of Feock Garages undertook a 13-month circumnavigation of the globe in two Minis for the STOP Polio Campaign.

Three more so-called “Bumpy Road Expeditions” followed.
In his specially converted Land Rover, Tony drove from Penryn and through Europe, across the Russian steppes and on through Kazakhstan into China and beyond.
“It is still difficult to obtain permission to drive in China,” said Tony. “The authorities insisted I had a Chinese driving licence, registration and number plates, and a Chinese guide called Tom, who slept most of the time - when he woke, he would ask me where we were.” Cool

A further trip took Tony not only around Australia, but through the centre from north to south and east to west, to make sure he had seen every inch of its stony and desolate tracts.

The most recent expedition, in 2007, saw him drive from southernmost South America, across the Andes, through Central America, the US and Canada to the most northerly point he could drive - the arctic oceans of Alaska.

Along the way Tony has driven the world’s most dangerous roads, including those with sheer drops, burning sands and deep mud.
He has been detained at gunpoint, mugged, robbed, attacked, strip-searched for drugs, interrogated by the military and suffered altitude sickness, dog bites and insects.

“But I have also seen |the world’s incredible wildlife and its magnificent panoramas,” Tony said.
“I have camped on top of a mountain range and in the middle of a desert.
“I have driven with mud up to the axles and the rain forest brushing the sides of the car, and I have never been happier.”

For Tony’s next expedition he will head north towards the Arctic Circle, through Scandinavia and on to the northern tundra of Russia.
He plans to embark on the three month trip this weekend, as a “dry run” before a future adventure that will see him circumnavigate the entire continent of Africa.
“I don’t know if it’s possible to do it,” he said, “but I have been through Africa and I thought next time I would try to go around the edge of it.”

Friend Pete Lochrie said: “If there is an unexplored nook or cranny left on the globe, you can be sure that Tony Clarke will find it.”

http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/fpfalmouth/10480037.Mugged__robbed__attacked__strip_searched__That_s_not_going_to_stop_intrepid_Penryn_explorer/

Posted: 29-08-2013 23:01 Post subject:

Vintage car from Cornwall travels across America
[video]
27 August 2013 Last updated at 19:32 BST

A couple from Saltash in Cornwall have driven 25,000 miles (40,000km) in an 80-year-old Austin Seven car.
Guy Butcher and his partner Eunice Kratky drove down the western seaboard of North and South America for charity.

The trip started with the car being shipped to Baltimore, and then they drove into Canada before taking a ferry from the Yukon to Alaska to start the drive to the southern tip of Chile.

It took almost nine months in a vehicle which does about 45 miles (70 km) an hour.
The couple are now writing a book about their time on the road.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-23854135

There's a very active Austin Seven group in Cornwall, so I'm not surprised by this, although it is an advance on just turning up to rallies at various Agricultural Shows!