Bath: Day 7

Hi all, sorry for the delay. We did not have internet access this weekend while we were in Cornwall!

The above pictures are: (1) Me sitting on a cliff overlooking the ocean at Tintagel Castle, (2) Ocean view, (3) Some of the landscape in Cornwall, (4) Just a pretty :), (5) Friends and I jumping for joy that we made it to the top of the cliff after hiking forever, (6) Amanda and I, (7) Those stairs were awful. You had to lift your leg so high for each one and then the climb up was insane, (8) King Arthur's Castle ("Tintagel Castle")

So, today we had to be on the bus by 7:30 a.m. to be on our way to Cornwall. I tried to stay up for a little while to check out the scenery we were passing though. The countryside is amazing here...probably because it rains alllll the time!! But everything is so green and the pastures are beautiful. They have lots of hills here too, but they are kind of like mountain-hills that have lots of greenery on them. Some of the houses we passed were super pretty as well. A lot of them were stone and had flowers everywhere and were just really charming. After awhile of observing, I passed out.

We then arrived at Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, where King Arthur was born according to legend. My God...I've never done so much hiking in my life! The incline of the stone steps was absolutely insane and at any minute I thought I was going over the edge to my rocky death. Definitely not for those who hate heights. However, the sea here makes up for the scary stairs. The views are well worth it. We ate lunch on a cliff overlooking the water and we explored some old ruins. The sea has every shade of blue and green you can imagine. Unfortunately, the path to get to the castle was extremely far and difficult and we only had two hours to cover a whole lotta ground so I didn't get up close to it. I did get the picture above, but I still wish I had more time to check it out.

My leggies are gonna look like Arnold's!

After we climbed the cliffs of death...we went into town, did a little exploring, some souvenir shopping, and hopped back on the bus to drive to Roskilly's farm. The road there was a tad bit scary driving in a huge coach bus. I thought we were either a. going to drive off the road and die or b. hit an oncoming car and die. Neither option sounded appealing to me, but luckily we had an amazing drive who navigated us perfectly (and who looks like Jason Statham) though he gave me a heart attack or two.

At the farm we got a very nommy BBQ. They gave us a bit of BBQ chicken, BBQ ham (cross between bacon and ham but very very good), steak, something like couscous (I only braved a bite), cole slaw, and fries. Oh, and carmalized onions and mushrooms for the meat. The best part was the organic ice cream they make there. DE-LISH! I got something with a funny name that I'd never heard of before (but one of the English people suggested it)- looked like vanilla with strawberry swirl, but didn't taste like that. All I know is, it was yum in the tum. They also made some superb jam and jelly there. The strawberry jam was to die for. Too bad I can't bring any home! :(

After a VERY long day of walking, what did we do? Walk some more. Yep, the English have a scheme I think. Use a study abroad program as a front to bring Americans over and walk/hike/sleep deprive them to death. I am fully convinced. We are not used to all this walking in America, especially up pseudo-Mnt. Everests...ESPECIALLY FOR US FLAT GROUNDERS IN ILLINOIS!

At any rate...we arrived in Coverack, a very small and quaint fishing village a few minutes from Tintagel Castle. We had to carry our luggage all through town and up awful hills until we finally arrived at the youth hostel. Yes, a hostel...in other words...a glorified dorm room. But I shouldn't complain...I lucked out with the best room! I shared it with two other girls, but we had a sea view, our own bathroom, and a spacious room (despite the fact we had to put sheets on our own beds). But hey, I'm pretty sure it beats the other rooms that had bunk beds and barely any room for one person to pass through.

Going to do some reading and pass out...will NOT dream of mountains, cliffs, or hills. We will have to be up and downstairs by 8 a.m. to go hiking along coastal paths...***MOM AND DAD, I am sure you can imagine the look on my face** But after that we get to go swimming, hang on the beach, or check out a musuem. Hope the weather stays nice. Today was insanely warm which made the hiking much more pleasant...


Oh, here are some English phrases you can integrate into your vocabularies:

Baps= hamburger buns
Leads= dog leash
Queue= line
Waggle= pool noodle

Love!