A Holiday in Cornwall - Part One

Cornwall is the most South-Western county in England and has for a long time been a favourite holiday destination for many people. Remote from the major population centres of much of the country, it boasts some of the best coastal scenery in England as well of a rich and varied history, as well as being slightly mysterious.

The county has long been a personal favourite with memories of holidays from years ago and more recently a genealogical connection discovered. I usually make a point of visiting Cornwall at least once a year. Of course with recent changes in my lifestyle it became an ambition to spend some time there in my female persona. I did manage a day out as Susan during a holiday there in 2011, but it remained a goal to spend much longer there as a woman.

My chance came earlier in the summer when my good friends Lucy and Mandy invited me to share their holiday cottage in North Cornwall with them for a week. Their friend who had originally booked the cottage with them had to pull out and so I was delighted that they asked me to take her place.

Saturday 22nd September

The plan was for me to drive to Taunton and meet up with Lucy and Mandy at their home. From there we would drive together to Cornwall. Driving from the South East of England to the South West on the A303  on a Saturday can be difficult, even out of the holiday season with traffic building up at certain points, especially where dual carriageways end. The worst one is Westbound at Stonehenge in Wiltshire and in the past I seen queues for traffic travelling West stretching back as far as Andover - a distance of nearly 15 miles.

So, I decided to leave as early as possible in order to reach Taunton by lunchtime. Now, getting away on holiday can be traumatic enough in my usual life, but doing it as a woman brings a whole new dimension. Where a suitcase is usually enough for a week, this holiday required three, plus a couple of holdalls. Then of course getting all this in the car, putting on my makeup and getting away by 9.00 in the morning left me feeling that I really needed a holiday to get over just leaving home.

But, get away I did and thankfully the roads didn't live up to my fears and the journey was easy and relaxing. In fact I had plenty of spare time which left me able to turn off the A303 at Ilchester and go across country to Taunton via Langport. This road was much quieter than the main route and far more picturesque. But I still arrived at Taunton rather early. Lucy and Mandy were expecting me late morning and I knew they were heading into town first thing for a "power breakfast". So, to avoid arriving before they got home I parked up for while to read the paper.




Enjoying the sunshine at Belstone Services

Eventually I reached their house and found them both busy getting ready to leave, with the cleaning of their car almost finished and the packing about to be finished off.. Soon, lunch was served and at 2.00 we were off on the final leg to Cornwall. The roads were reasonably trouble free and as we couldn't take over our cottage until 4.00 we were able to take the journey at leisure.

We stopped at Belstone services near Okehampton in Devon for a break and of course an ice cream. Here was our first chance to take some photos, something that was sure to be a feature of the forthcoming week. Soon we were on our way again and by 4.00 we had arrived and were checking into our cottage.

Lucy and Mandy had booked a cottage at Hengar Manor, which is a holiday park at St Tudy, just outside Camelford in North Cornwall. They had been here before but that was in the days before Lucy. There was some concern that a place which is essentially family orientated might have problems with trans women like ourselves. However, from the moment we booked in to when we left we experienced nothing but friendly service from the staff.



Relaxing in the cottage after a busy day

Having unpacked, to a degree at least, Lucy and myself set off to pick up supplies for the week. We headed for Wadebridge where there is a large supermarket just outside the town. For a Saturday evening the place was quite busy. However, we concluded, based on the sort of clothing being worn and the generally lost looks on many faces, that most of them were holiday makers like ourselves stocking up.

Our shopping didn't seem to take too long and soon we were heading back to the cottage. This was when the first of what was going to be a series of navigation errors occurred. Trying to find our way across country to the cottage, we ended up rather lost and even our maps didn't seem to help on this occasion. The best answer in these cases is to head for somewhere you know and work it out from there. So we headed to Camelford and took the road we'd used earlier in the afternoon.

We were soon back and Lucy cooked us the first of what would prove to be a series of lovely meals. After that it was time to relax after a busy and and start to plan the rest of our holiday..

Sunday 23rd September

Just as the weather forecast had promised the day started wet, but we had taken this into account. The plan was to visit an indoor market that was being held near St Austell. Given the poor weather forecast for the day it seemed like a good idea. We all enjoy shopping and a market is always a good place to try for a bargain.

On the way there the second navigation error of the week occurred when we found ourselves at the gates of the Eden Project. Quite how this happened I'm not sure as I had been busy trying to send a text from my mobile, something I don't do very often. But whatever the case it was quickly decided that none of us wanted to visit the site as we'd all been there before and it was hardly the sort of weather for it anyway.

Quickly we got ourselves back on the right track and soon arrived at the venue for the market. These events can be quite good or not, depending on so many factors. To be honest there was a lack of bargains, at least as far as clothes were concerned. But the worse thing was how crowded it was and this made if difficult for getting the wheelchair around.

For those who are unaware, at present Mandy is suffering from a long term problem with one of her knees and while she is waiting for the medical profession to help her out she is using a wheelchair to increase her mobility. A feature of this week, for me at least, was just how difficult it can be to navigate a wheelchair around the streets and venues of our so-called enlightened country. Sometimes it's the facilities, or more likely the lack of them. But sadly, a lot of the time it's the people. Sometimes it's the lack of awareness, other times it's a lack of thought. But as far as I could tell mot of the time people are so wrapped up in their own world that they show no consideration for others less fortunate. Have you ever had difficulties pushing a trolley around a busy supermarket? Then hopefully you'll know what I'm getting at.

The patrons at this market were no better then usual and we soon tired of trying to make a good job of it. So this, combined with a lack of decent bargains led us to leave sooner than we might have done. We headed into St Austell town centre for some much needed refreshment and some decent shopping.



"The China Cafe" in St Austell, with two extra customers

We weren't to be disappointed as although it was a wet Sunday lunchtime, the shopping centre was quite good. Apparently the area recently competed a major makeover and although we weren't seeing it at its best, it was still a pleasant experience. After a much needed caffeine top-up we hit the shops and were generally pleased with what we bought.


Me and "Bergerac"

Towards the end of our tour of the town centre we were greeted by a fascinating work of art. "The China Cafe" is a life-sized mural covering the whole of the side of a building facing the shopping area. It depicts the fictional cafe, named after the nearby china clay industry with which the town has long been associated. The "patrons" of the cafe include 14 famous people who were either born in the town or who have lived there at some time. These include the author Daphne du Maurier and the actor John Nettles.

Needless to say none of us could resist getting photos of ourselves in such illustrious company and two of the shots are shown here.

Soon, though it was time to head back to the cottage. Lucy was preparing a joint of roast beef for our Sunday dinner and of course time was needed to prepare it. The journey back was less eventful than the outward one and we were soon back, looking forward to our roast dinner and settling down to watch a re-run of the Singapore Grand Prix.

Monday 24th September 

Today it was my turn to do the driving and after some discussion we decided to head for the City Truro. This is the county town of Cornwall and held the promise of some good shopping. Once again the very indifferent weather we were experiencing affected our choice of venue, and we figured that if it did rain there would be plenty of cover.

This was the first time we had put Mandy's wheelchair in my car and the first impression was that it wouldn't fit. Although overall my car is slightly larger than Lucy's, on mine the roof at the back slopes downwards and this means there is less height in the luggage area. This meant that although the wheelchair would fit in, we couldn't close the door. However, after a bit of trial and error we finally succeeded. This was just as well as it would have been unfair if Lucy had ended up doing all the driving.

The journey there took about 45 minutes and was uneventful, apart from me taking the wrong exit and a roundabout near Bodmin. Three days and three navigation errors! We began to speculate whether or not we could keep this up and manage an error each day of our holiday.

We parked in a car park close to of the city's Lemon Quay shopping area and headed to the very large branch of Marks and Spencer for refreshments. M&S cafes are usually very good and you can always guarantee getting a nice drink. However, I have noticed recently that they are becoming a victim of their own success, being often crowded and with long queues when being served. The Truro branch was no different and although we managed to find a table, Lucy seemed to be a long time before she arrived with our drinks.

There was also an annoyance when we were trying to find the toilets. Usually there are located close to the cafe and that's where we headed. However, after some fruitless searching we found them next to the lift we had just come out of. Some pretty poor signing had led us to miss them entirely.



Truro - After the Rain

Anyway, suitably refreshed we had a tour of M&S and then headed out into the street - only to find it was pouring down. Fortunately our next shop was right next door, so we managed to avoid a soaking. By the time we went back into the street the rain had stopped and the sun was shinning. So it was time for some photos.

The rest of our shopping trip was fairly uneventful, apart from some fool who gave us a wolf-whistle. Lucy was sure it was intended for us but as we were walking together at the time it wasn't possible to say who it was meant for. So in the true spirit of sisterhood, we decided to share it.

The experience of pushing the wheelchair around the older part of the City was more reminiscent of our visit to Bath earlier in the summer. Narrow, uneven pavements and cobblestones might look quaint and "olde-worlde", but they are a nightmare for anyone trying to navigate the streets in a chair. Then we had a wheelchair malfunction. One of the push-rims that are attached to the main wheels broke. To be more exact it was one of the fixing brackets. Lucy was quite rightly annoyed as these were new, better quality ones she had recently obtained. A quick inspection showed that the break was due to poor quality materials. We hoped that we would be able to effect a make-shift repair once back at the cottage. But for today, it meant that Mandy would be unable to propel herself around the shops.



Leading the Cow by the Ear

Lunch was taken at a coffee shop where it has to be said the service was much better than we had experienced in M&S earlier. On the way back through Truro we headed headed for their indoor Pannier Market, but before getting there we found a delightful life-sized statue of a cow which was crying out to be used as a prop for some more photos. And that of course it what happened.


By the Truro River - in Truro

We made our visit to the pannier market but to be honest it wasn't that impressive and we were soon through there. Then it was back to the car park and into the adjoining supermarket for some more supplies.
Whilst here we took one last photo opportunity by the river before heading off back to the cottage. The journey home was uneventful and once back there Lucy and I took advantage of the dry weather for a wonder around the grounds and, naturally, a few more photos.


Later on we were able to make the necessary repairs to Mandy's wheelchair. This meant she would be able to propel herself around the shops and give the extra independence she deserved.



That's the end of the first part of my holiday blog. I had intended originally to do this all in one go. However, the size of it is increasing and in order to make it more manageable I will publish it in at least two parts and quite likely three.

See you in Part 2......!

Susan XXX