Cornwall, Day 14: Mousehole

Mousehole

No, I don't mean 'mouse hole', in case you are wondering. A mouse hole would not be a very nice place to visit, unless you are a cat. And since we are not cats, but humans, our idea was to go to a human place on this our 14th day in Cornwall. Mousehole (pronounced mow-zel).

It was Rick Steves who gave me the idea of visiting Mousehole, and I got excited and told my husband, and Rosie, and Ted. Everyone thought it sounded smashing, and wanted to go. It would be pretty. It would have beaches. It would have a pub! So back onto the bus we climbed. 

The driver gave us some good info right away. He said that since a return ticket to Penzance would cost 6 pounds, and then a return to Mousehole would be 4 pounds, we could each buy a 10 pound 'day pass' instead. A day pass meant you could ride anywhere on any bus or train for one whole day! This sounded fun. So we saved up the idea for next week, when Rosie and Ted are gone and we are missing them.

And so we four, in our rain gear and with our hike maps, departed St Ives once more. At that moment, it was being inundated by sheets of water and so we did not think it mattered terribly much where we went. It might be dryer, it might be wetter, one just never knows in Cornwall. Anything can happen here.

But it was a delightful trip, and I hope you will also one day climb aboard a country bus and let it take you to see Mousehole. There we found:

• a circular hike filled with twists and turns, bringing you back to your starting point
• nice people who took pity and answered our queries on where on earth we were
• cute cottages along the way that Rosie and I found fascinating
• majestic views of the sea and of St Michael's Mount
• a sweet Cafe & Deli that made me a lovely tomato cheese sandwich (not grilled, you Americans)
• a pub containing happy people and the pints that made them that way

https://www.flickr.com/photos/126283897@N04/14835727267/

Rejoining bus #6, and then bus #17, we chatted amiably with each other and listened to the locals who were, as always, friendly. At least one of us slept. It was time to get home and perhaps continue this most interesting nap. As the bus lumbered around the bend toward St Ives, we were surprised and pleased to see that the sheet of water had disappeared. And we saw:

Wind still brisk, boats floating upon high tide, gulls graceful and eager, as always. We came to the conclusion that wherever we might go in Cornwall, the best was always coming back to St Ives. You could never get enough of it.

We discussed what we would do with the rest of this red-letter day. Ted would stroll down the harbor and perhaps end up at the Sloop Inn; Rosie would gaze at the Barbara Hepworth Museum; at least one of us would sleep. When all of this strolling, and gazing, and sleeping had finished, we took ourselves and each other to the Alba, a superb restaurant right on the harbor. While we ate, the moon began to rise up out of the sea and we were charmed.

It was a perfect ending to a perfect day. Only none of us wanted it to end.


See you along the way!
the SconeLady

photo credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/126283897@N04/14835727267/">steffen.grothe</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>