A Holiday in Cornwall - Part Three

Welcome back!

Thursday 27th September

Since knowing I would be spending a week in Cornwall in my female persona, I had the ambition to visit Land's End and have myself photographed against the magnificent backdrop that is the sea view from this famous headland. I had told Lucy & Mandy this and they were was keen to come along. Many years ago, when I was much, much younger Land's End was a simple place to visit. There was a car park, a hotel and one or two low-key attractions. However, from the late 1980's onwards a series of property deals resulted in the site being developed into a gaudy theme park.

The presence of such places at iconic beauty spots is controversial, with good reason in my opinion. To be honest it's difficult to understand the justification for this eyesore at a place that has attracted visitors for many years down to ages. Many of the so-called attractions have little or nothing to do with the area, let alone the headland and one is forced to the conclusion that it is all about the quick buck and little else.



Penzance Flower Girl

We started the day in traditional fashion by stopping at Penzance and hitting the shops. This is the most Westerly town in Cornwall and is set around the harbour where there is a large car park From here a lift takes you through a modern shopping building straight into the main shopping area. The first stop, as ever was for coffee and much needed refreshments. It was interesting to find the place full of mothers and pushchairs, presumably a post school run gathering place.

In spite of being built on hilly ground we managed to negotiate the streets without to much both and enjoyed a nice wonder around the shops. I picked up some clip-on earrings from Claires, to add to those I'd bought earlier in the week. A girl can never have too many earrings and as one who has to use clip-ons I find Claires a good source.

With lunch in mind we tried to find the toilets and ended up at the railway station. After our experiences in Newquay were weren't too keen on this but thankfully Penzance station obviously takes pride in all their services to the public. In spite of looking at several places we couldn't find any that took our fancy for lunch and so we ended up back at the coffee shop we'd used earlier.

So, suitably refreshed we headed towards Land's End and the delights that awaited us. It's about a 40 minute drive from Penzance to Land's End and it takes you across some of the most rugged and wildest scenery in the county. Once this area was teeming with the mining industry, supplemented by fishing villages along the coast. Nowadays most of this has gone with the last mine, at Geevour having closed in 1990. This is now open as a tourist attraction and indeed the area as a whole relies on tourism and the heritage industry. Against this background it is tempting to be sympathetic to such ventures as the Land's End Theme Park.

So, we arrived and were greeted by an expected request for a £5.00 parking fee. Having negotiated this and parked, we made our way to the entrance, past the disabled car park which was strangely devoid of blue badges. The entrance to the theme park was through a mock-classical portico, emblazoned with the the title "Land's End", just in case you didn't know where you were. If this seemed out of place on a remote Cornish headland, then sadly it was in keeping with many of the attractions contained within.



The End of England

But, we didn't come here for that but instead to enjoy the view from this famous headland. Thankfully, after several days of poor weather, the visibility on the day of our visit was near-perfect. The view was clear to the Scilly Isles, nearly thirty miles away. Also visible was the Seven Stones lightship, marking the reef of the same name. In 1967 was the scene of the infamous Torrey Canyon disaster. when the super tanker ran aground on the reef and leaked some 140,000 tons of crude oil into the sea, much of which came ashore on the coast in the South West of England. Those events are chronicled in detail elsewhere but suffice to say it was an event that left a lasting impression on those who remember it.




Close to the Edge

A famous attraction that predates any theme parks is the Land's End signpost. For a fee (not insubstantial) you can have your photo taken in front of this landmark with the name of your home town and the distance to it. Needless to say there are plenty of railings surrounding to ensure that no DIY photos are taken. We decided against this luxury and instead headed off to the "First & Last House" a little way along the headland. But that was just about it for us and having got our photos we felt it was time to leave.

On the way out Lucy and I used the ladies and whilst waiting for us Mandy realised that a couple were taking photos of her. Once I appeared the camera started snapping again. Perhaps these idiots thought that people a bit different were fair game for their curiosity but in my book it was just plain rudeness and speaks volumes about how low standards of behaviour have slipped. Lucy, however, summed it up perfectly when she wrote in her blog: "It's great to find such open minded people, imagine encountering a wheelchair and t-girl fetishist together, what are the odds?!?" As well as this episode I had noticed that from the moment we entered the place I was aware of a large number of reads - far more than at any other time during our holiday. Lucy and I discussed this later and we came to the conclusion that a big factor was the general boredom amongst the patrons of this "tourist attraction".

That was it as far as Land's End was concerned and there was a general feeling as we drove out of the place that none of us had a desire to ever return. We decided that an ice-cream would be nice so we headed for nearby Sennen Cove. Sadly, when we got there we discovered we would have to pay again to park and apart from putting up the price of the ice creams, after Land's End we were in no mood to fork out any more cash just for the privilege of stopping the car.

It was with a feeling of despondency we headed off home and to lift out spirits I suggested we went via the North Coast road. This is the road that runs through St Just, Pendeen and Zennor towards St Ives. I've been along here in thick fog on past occasions and it's been hard to see your hand in front of your face. However, today nature was on our side and the views were fantastic and went a long way to restoring our dented spirits. St Ives is a narrow crowded town and I usually take the train when visiting, so it wasn't my intention to drive through the middle of the town. However, due to yet another navigation error we did indeed end up in the town centre, but thankfully it wasn't as bad as I had feared. But regardless of that it was another first for me!

Back at the cottage we had decided to visit the on-site Italian restaurant that evening by way of a change. It was nice after our day out to change out of my skirt and top and into a dress for the evening. The meal was very nice and just what we needed after our day.

Friday 28th September

The last full day of our holiday and from the outset we had planned it to be something special. We were going to spend the day in Plymouth, which although strictly speaking isn't in Cornwall (it's in Devon actually) it is one of the largest cities in the South-West. Lucy and Mandy had been there before and I had also been shopping there a couple of years before (although not as Susan). The idea was that any money left over from could be put to good use on a mega shopping trip and we were really looking forward to it.

So, what went wrong? That was a question we would be asking ourselves in depth later in the day, but it started off OK. We made our way to Plymouth without too much trouble although yet another navigation error saw us miss the car park entrance and have to go around again. Sadly I don't think we managed our earlier target of an error every day. Nonetheless we did notch up a respectable tally along the way and proved if nothing else that we're only human. Having parked, we headed for a coffee shop for our usual refreshments.

It was then a case of hitting the shops, which should have taken up the rest of the day, apart from an intended "touristy" excursion up to Plymouth Hoe. However, whilst waking around a large department store we encountered a young jerk who we suspected of taking photos of us. The confrontation that followed was quite vocal and I felt, on reflection, was partly down to our annoyance at events the previous day at Land's End. Nonetheless we came to the conclusion that we should carry on our shopping elsewhere.

This is what we tried to do but it soon became clear that the incident had dampened our spirits and so we brought forward our visit to the Plymouth Hoe. This is an area of high ground between the city centre and the anchorage of Plymouth sound. The views over the harbour and surrounding area are spectacular and went a long way to restoring our mood. The Hoe is of course famous as the site where Sir Francis Drake was playing a game of bowls when the Spanish Armada appeared in the English Channel in 1588. In a demonstration of measured calmness he insisted on finishing his came first before heading off to deal with these potential invaders.



A Big Wheel in Plymouth

Whether the story is true or not, or indeed if he was playing bowls as we would know it is open to speculation. But it's a wonderful story of calmness in the face of adversity. Also on the Hoe is "Smeaton's Tower". This was the third of the famous Eddystone Lighthouses and stood on those rocks some 12 miles South-South-West of Plymouth from 1759 until 1882, when it was replaced by the present structure. Although the tower was sound, the rocks on which it was built were found to be breaking up. The best solution to this was an entirely new lighthouse and the existing one was dismantled and rebuilt here on Plymouth Hoe.



The Three of Us Together on the Hoe

Today it is open as a tourist attraction and the view from the top is worth the climb. Somehow, though, I don't think I would have fancied the idea of living inside it for weeks or even months on end in the middle of the sea. Lighthouse keepers were a rare breed indeed!

After our trip to the Hoe we returned to the city centre and resumed our shopping. After a tour of many charity shops we headed for BHS in order to use their restaurant for lunch. It may be that BHS have a policy of good customer service but it seem somewhat adrift on the day of our visit. After being kept waiting by a complete absence of staff, we were informed that what we wanted was off the menu, so we decided to go elsewhere. Somehow in the process of moving I became separated from Lucy and Mandy and eventually had to resort to my phone to find out where they were. It was at this point the battery in my phone went flat. (Apparently you're supposed to re-charge them if you leave them on all week!) I had another phone but not with Lucy's number on it. Somehow I manged to transfer the number from my dying phone but it took several attempts.

By the time we finally met up my nerves were in shreds and so we decided to use the ground floor cafe in BHS and take whatever they had to offer. By this point we all agreed that the day had little left to offer in Plymouth and decided to head back home, after picking up a few essentials in Boots. It was as we headed back to the car park that the good citizens of Plymouth got their chance to annoy us one final time. There were three lifts serving the car park and it seemed we were waiting for ever. Each one that arrived on the upper floor, where we were waiting seemed to be full of able bodied people and leaving no room for a wheelchair.

I could see that Lucy was getting more and more annoyed and so it came as no surprise when she finally pushed Mandy's wheelchair into a crowded lift and informed the occupants that it wasn't going anywhere until they were allowed in. This did the trick and one of the occupants volunteered to get out. In the meantime I decided it would be best to use the stairs and so made my way to our floor, where I found the pay machine being repaired with a long queue in front of it. Meanwhile Lucy and Mandy emerged from the lift, beaming with triumph after asserting their rights.

I did a quick tour of adjacent floors in order to find a working pay machine but all of them had long queues. I ended up back on our floor where the thing had by now been repaired. We couldn't get out of the place fast enough but somehow managed to pick the exit queue where the barrier had decided to pack up. Once through this last obstacle we were out of the city and frankly quite delighted to do so.

On the journey home we chatted about our experiences and we all agreed it had been a bruising experience. I think Lucy was the most downhearted as it had been her idea to visit Plymouth as a finale to our holiday. As she said, she had been there before and never had any problems.

On the way back we stopped at a supermarket to pick up a few supplies. At this point it would have been easy to let Lucy go in by herself and I could sit it out in the car. But I was determined not to be beaten by some pubescent creep and his camera-phone so I decided to go in with her. Over the course of the week it seemed that we visited a supermarket each day and on most days I accompanied Lucy. Looking back I realised that on no occasion did we have the slightest problem. No reads, no stares and certainly no comments. The staff were always friendly and at no time were we made to feel unwelcome or ill-at-ease. I think one reason is that people in supermarkets are always busy and concentrating on their own business. As we discovered the day before at Land's End, where boredom is rife then the number of reads can go through the roof.

Come and Get It!

Once back at the cottage we had a couple more events before we had to ring the curtain down on our holiday. The first was the appropriate disposal of a particular badly present loaf of sliced bread. The lucky beneficiaries of this were to be the ducks and other assorted water fowl who reside on the holiday park's lake. Did they enjoy it? You bet they did! The photo here of Lucy and Mandy handing out the treats shows only a small proportion of the birds that mobbed us when the bread appeared. It may have been a lousy loaf of bread but it was certainly appreciated by our feathered friends.

The other event of the evening was a meal in the park's pub. There's not a lot to say about it other than the surroundings were nice, the staff were friendly and food was lovely. (Oh, and the beer was good too!) After the trials and tribulations of the day it helped make up for it quite a lot.

Saturday 29th September



Two Lovely Friends

And so, it was the last day of our holiday. As usual, there's not much you can do but pack, have breakfast and then head home. I'll freely admit that when it finally came to saying goodbyes and leaving I felt quite emotional. Lucy and Mandy have freely taken me as a friend and let me into their world to an extent that I found quite warming. From the outset Lucy made it clear that they regarded me as one of the trio rather than someone who was sharing their cottage for a week. This proved to be the case throughout the week and at no time did I feel the need to get out by myself.

As I walked up the path to the car there were tears in my eyes. It's true that fresh makeup can make my eyes water, but this was much more. Six hours later I was home and filling up the washing machine. The holiday only lasted a week but the memories will be around a lot longer.

Thoughts and Conclusions

That's a rather grand sounding heading, but whatever holiday you have it's usual to reflect on it afterwards. Whilst writing this blog, at times I've worried that I might have come across as rather negative, dwelling on things that have gone wrong rather than the good bits. Well, although some things and events might not have been to our liking, on the whole is was a lovely holiday with the positives far outweighing any negatives.

Of course being out in the world as a trans woman leaves you open to all sorts of unwanted attention and although there were examples of this, there were other times when there was no trace of it.

One thing that was in my mind was the long term effect it would have on my attitudes to being a trans woman. Lucy has written elsewhere that the two weeks she spent in the Lake District in 2011 as a woman finally convinced her that living full time as a woman was the only realistic option for her. Against this background I wondered if I might come away from this holiday with similar feelings. In the end it didn't happen, although as I said to Lucy I now understood why this happened to her. Living for a whole week as Susan wasn't a thrill or an exciting experience. Instead I was left with a sense of how comfortable I felt in my female persona. If the time comes when I decide to go full time then at least I know that I can be Susan.

As I've written above the over-riding memory of this holiday was how lovely it was to be in the company of two wonderful, supportive and undemanding friends like Lucy and Mandy. A lot has happened to me this year in my transgendered life and much of it is down to the support given by these two friends. Thank you Lucy and thank you Mandy - I can't tell you you adequately just how important it's been to me.

As well as my blog Lucy has written here own account of our holiday and it can be found on her website. If you've never been there then it can be found here: www.prettylucy.co.uk/

Thank you for reading this

Susan XXX