Perranarworthal, Penzance, and The Lizard

Spontaneous road trip? Don’t mind if I do. Here’s how it went down. Claire, Sophie, Alina and Michael got in a rented car. I have adequate manual driving skillz but an inability to follow a map or grasp the concept of driving on the left side of the road. Mike has adequate map-following skillz but less manual driving practice. So we tag-teamed. A few problems with this: I was driving but didn’t know where we were going. And the steering wheel is clearly on the wrong side of the car. Which means that every time I went to shift gears, I ran my hand into the door. And every turn causes anxiety because the traffic is all going THE WRONG DIRECTION. This is a country of madmen!

Eventually, after a few wrong turns and about 1,000,000 roundabouts, we got our group safely to… Perranarworthal. Yep. It’s a real place, and yes, I spelled it correctly.  It’s in Cornwall, which means Cornish Pasties. And the sea. Anyway, back to Perranarworthal. It is an exquisite (in a dollhouse sort of way) village set into the hills. Hydrangeas spilled out of every garden and the grass was so plush I very nearly started eating it. It was spongy and each step left an impression behind. I could have walked on it for the rest of my life. But enough about the grass.

 After the stop at Perranarworthal we headed toward Penzance –as in Pirates of –via Helston (I’m looking at you, Smith family and BBC aficionados everywhere). Somehow along the way we turn a wrong turning and ended up in… The Lizard.

in case you doubted....

Despite its bizzaro name, I had a feeling that The Lizard was going to surprise us. And it did. With Keynance Cove. This is seriously beautiful coastal country, people.

 After that, it was off to Penzance –as in Pirates of –and pub food.

 and the hostel of all hostels. and Communion at St Mary’s. and Cornish pasties. and Saint Michael’s Mount at low tide. When the tide comes in, the causeway is covered, so you've got to have good timing. which we do.

  and then STONEHENGE.

yep. I took this bad boy.

which was unfortunately closed by the time we got there. but we were still excited, obviously.

And that is how Claire, Sophie, Alina and Mike drove across the country, got locked out of Stonehenge, had many contiguous conversations and pastries, met Cornish peoples, and discovered a veritable gem in the heart of The Lizard.