We left the Scots behind after learning: wee, aye etc and watching the fascinating cultural experience of the Oban Highland games, where all the area clans come together. There was definitely a 'have' and 'have not' feel about the proceedings. The members area was full of gloriously kilted men, women and children. I have experienced the landed gentry at Binda in my church days!
We have experienced 4 different train companies now. They certainly vary. Mostly the trains are not electric, to our surprise, and fairly slow. The Eastern line to Edinburgh was good, as was the Virgin trip. The Crosscountry service to Penzance was awful. A 5 hour trip and they ran out of food. It seems strange to us that you can have a ticket on a train but no seat reservation, so consequently there are a lot of people standing! How would they know how much food to carry? But there was WiFi. I'm talking First class here - I can only imagine that 2nd class was worse.
I found a lot of the towns we passed through to be very bleak.
Cornwall is as I imagined. Picturesque beauty. Penzance is the poor sister to St Ives, the Double Bay of Cornwall with a lovely sandy beach, and trendy shops. We did a long circular bus tour yesterday, via Land's End, because we wanted to visit Morvah and Pendeen and their churches that are the setting for Patrick Gale's latest novel. He himself lives with his partner on a farm at Land's End. We were not disappointed. I would not like to ride my bike on these roads - they are too narrow, and very hilly. Today the wind is blowing and it is very wet. We were hoping to go walking, but will probably be reading indoors instead.
Hopefully our bikes will be waiting for us at Heathrow on Thursday as we wind our way home. Then reality will set in - but we look forward to the arrival of our Canadian family at the beginning of October. My pregnant daughter is coping with a lively 20 month old son and I can only smile. Been there done that!
The grand tour is drawing to a close. A new adventure awaits.
[P.S. We are just back from the Newlyn Fish Festival, held Bank Holiday Monday each year - it is a public holiday in the U.K. Newlyn joins Penzance and is the main fishing port. Peter had a Cornish pastie. Lots of food to buy, boats to see, sea oriented displays and the usual festival stalls. And the wind and rain continues!]