St. Michael's Mount

St. Michael's Mount is an old monastary and castle on an island. If you go in the evening, you have to get there by boat. But in the morning the tide goes out and you can walk along a causeway that is normally covered by water. There wasn't a lot to do on the island, so afterward we went and explored all the stuff that was left exposed by the sea. As the day went on it got really foggy again. In the morning we could see the castle up on the island, but by the time we left in the afternoon it was completely hidden by fog.

You can see some of the water that hadn't receded all the way yet. Good thing I had wellies!

It was so foggy, you couldn't see anything outside the windows or down the mountain.

This was the perfect place to act like Rapunzel. So we did!

Look at all that seaweed!

Tiny starfish

This dog was so cute. It was with a group of school kids in a science class. We were far away from them out by the ocean, and he kept running super fast toward us to jump in the water, act like he wanted to play, and then run back. He did this every few minutes. There were other dogs out playing on the beach and they were seriously running faster than any dog I've ever seen. Poor little Molly would've dropped dead.

Sennan Cove and Lands End

Somewhere along the way we stopped at this ancient rock formation called Lanyon Quoit. Apparently its origins and uses are mysterious. It looks like a giant's picnic table though.

Then we hiked from Sennan Cove to Land's End. Land's End is the eastern most tip of England. The postcards had the same font as the clothing company. Sennan Cove weirdly reminded me of California. As we walked down to the beach we passed someone who had been surfing. And when we got there more people were surfing. And we saw another seal! I just wouldn't have expected these things in England.

See, kind of California-y.

Lands End was kind of eerie. It was super super foggy as you can see, and the town was completely deserted. I thought the zombie apocalypse was going to happen. It felt as though all the ritsy sea town-undead were going to pop out of their souvenir shops and eat us!

Tintagel Castle

While in Tintangel we went to the Tintagel Castle ruins. It's on an island that you have to hike up to. We stopped at the beach below before we went up. It was pretty. And by the beach was Merlin's Cave!! This whole area is just full of Arthurian Legends.

Merlin's Cave!!

And a little seal came to say hello! That's his little head out in the water. I hope you can see it. I'd try and circle it on photoshop, but I don't have photoshop. I was so excited to see a little sealy out in the water, he seemed interested in us but he didn't come very close.

The castle ruins. There were drawings that showed what it might have been like, and you could look out and see the spots where the buildings would've been.

Posing on the ruins. Classy.

Ashley and I shared these yummy scones after. They came with jam and clotted cream. Clotted cream will probably give you a heart attack. But it's sooo good.

Tintangel, Cornwall

While on our trip we got to hike along the coast of the Irish Sea. Our group had to split up and stay in two different hostels in different towns. So we each got dropped off at the town we weren't staying in, and then had to hike 5 miles to our hostel. It was kind of long, but as you can see it was really beautiful. Luckily it wasn't raining. I kept thinking of the movie Tristan and Isolde the whole the time, cause it totally looked like it! And we were in Cornwall, so that reminded me of it too. The water was surprisingly blue. And we were lucky that the leaves were beginning to change.

Viking horn wind hair.

As usual, just walking along the sheep and cows.

This was our hostel. I was in the group that stayed in Tintagel. The others stayed in Boscastle. We had to hike an extra mile to our hostel. It was right there on a cliff overlooking the sea. There was no internet or telephone there. They work out their reservations through other people who just fax them the information every morning.

On the walk to the hostel I passed this church and graveyard. The old graveyards here are so cool, with the old Celtic crosses. I took this photo of the church and the WWI memorial the evening we got to the hostel. The other pictures of the graveyard I took the next morning. There was a dense fog and it added to the ambiance of the cemetery.

Spooky!

Glastonbury Abbey

On our trip we went to Glastonbury Abbey. Supposedly King Arthur's body was found there and it is still the site of his tomb. But isn't he maybe not even real. Yeah. The lady who was giving us a tour said that the man who found their bodies was digging, and he came across the body of a man and his blonde haired wife. He touched the wife's hair and it all disintegrated. Hmmm. But who knows. But the ruins were pretty and the tour guides were dressed up in 'contemporary' garb and role played during their tours.

This is the Abbot's kitchen, and the only part of the site that is preserved.

Here was our tour lady. She was from France and she had a whole role as a woman who came to Glastonbury to to work in the Abbey but then had to find a husband because she was French. She had a nice accent, but you had to really listen to understand.

This little dog loo was funny! Everyone has dogs, and they take them everyone- places Americans (or at least Americans that don't live in New York) would never take their dogs. Like tourist destinations and grocery stores. Good to know Glastonbury Abbey accommodates.

We wanted to take a fall picture, so we decided to throw up some leaves! And look candid.

We were really lucky to have nice weather, as you can see. More to come! Hope this wasn't too dull for you Mom and Dad!