As per usual, we start our jaunt with a trip to Cornwall. It’s becoming a habit, but we just can’t keep away. This time we have an extra special reason to pop down, as little Beth is hitting 30. About three months before we had had a phone call from Bobby. That in itself was unusual enough, as we mostly communicate on WhatsApp. He was phoning to see if we could make it down for Beth’s 30th birthday party. It took all of a second to say yes, and when we found out the planned party was a gin festival at the Greenbank Hotel, we were doubly in!
To preserve the surprise, we stay the night at Rona and Ed’s in Exeter, giving us just two hours to cover in the morning before the party. We pass a pleasant evening with Ben’s Aunt & Uncle strolling around Exeter in the sunshine and sampling a couple of pubs. In the morning, Ben, Rona & Ed head off for exercise (cycling and ParkRun), whilst Beck heads to the hairdresser for a blow-dry!
Once regrouped, we hit the road, arriving chez Dalton’s in perfect time to change and head to the Greenbank. Beth is somewhere on the Fal River, having been whisked off on a surprise boat trip to facilitate the arrival of guests onto the jetty at the hotel for a surprise welcome back.
But not us. We are secreted away in the hotel bar for a second surprise arrival. Bobby ushers her in. We sit opposite the bar and converse, waiting to be spotted. She looks right at us and then through us! We have to walk right up behind them at the bar and loudly wonder what anyone has to do to get a drink around here… before she turns and exclaims! Hugs all round and we are off to explore the gin offerings.
If you like gin, the Falmouth Gin Festival at the Greenbank Hotel is well worth a visit. Innumerable tasters from a wide range of friendly distilleries are on offer, along with a full G&T at the bar. After that, it’s on to paid drinks, but to be honest, there were so many samples to work through that we didn’t need to switch to buying drinks until much, much later in the evening. Around 6pm Bobby brings out platters of food to keep us going. Crispy squid and whitebait, prosciutto and cheese platters with fruit, delicious wood fired pizza, olives … Definitely a buffet with Beth in mind! We tuck in (Ben has three platefuls) and follow it up with birthday cake. Even Bobby gets a small cake from the team at the Hotel, it being his actual birthday today. What comes across is how all the staff get on as one big family, and how happy people are, even when they are working. It feels like a nice environment to work in and that makes for a great place to visit. It just shows, there’s no need to be a bully in the hospitality sector.
We dance the night away to a very random collection of tunes from the DJ and collapse into bed at about 1am, agreeing with Bev & Martin that we will see them in the afternoon and not before… Of course none of us had banked on Beth booking a table for breakfast at the Mylor Café for 10am the following morning, well, we hadn’t until we got a knock from Bev at 9.10am to tell us as much! A quick turnaround and we are feasting on rosti and asparagus – it’s a good reason to get out of bed at least!
We spend the afternoon chilling out with the Dalton clan, watching Beth & Bobby opening up their presents and cards and eating yet more cake.
To give us some exercise, we take an evening swim at Gyllingvase Beach in the cold but clear sea, before, appropriately, watching the first episode of the new series of Poldark!
Speaking of cold and clear seas, Monday sees us head off to the idyllic Pedn Vounder beach with Beth & Bobby as they have taken the day off. It’s about an hour’s drive from Falmouth and then a steep cliff scramble down to a beach that looks just like something out of the Mediterranean, all white sand, azure waters and blue skies. It also happens to be a clothing optional beach and there are plenty of people taking advantage. One man approaches us in the sea to warn about the currents. It’s a slightly surreal experience having a serious conversation with someone in the nude! We, however, stay firmly in swimwear! Beth takes the opportunity to try out her new waterproof GoPro camera. Not sure a nudist beach was the best place to start filming though!!
We laze on the beach to warm up after a swim in the Baltic waters and get into a bit of an altercation with a woman who persistently lets her dog dry itself off over us all! It can’t spoil the beauty of our surroundings though. By late afternoon we are feeling peckish so pack up and head to the Logan Rock pub in Treen for some food. It works to keep hunger at bay and we head along the clifftop path, this time to Portreath beach for more wave jumping and sun bathing. Beth & Bobby are back to work tomorrow so it’s been a treat to spend an extra day with them both.
Tuesday night is running club night so we spend an easy day mooching around Falmouth (Ben gets on with some work). We became honorary members of the Falmouth Road Runners last time we were down and they are a really friendly bunch. This time the evening run takes us from the club house to Maenporth beach and back. It’s a route we have walked many times, but never run, and it’s something we will keep in mind for future reference as a good route. After the run we take fish and chips at the club house and fend off scavenging sea gulls!
On Wednesday we head to Trebah Gardens, initially just for an excellent lunch but, as we bump into Beth’s school friend Hannah who works there and comps us tickets, we take a wander around the fab gardens too. In the evening we all get together for lasagne and farewells. However, late Wednesday night Bev has a brainwave and suggests brunch at Bango kitchen, a new pop up food business in Penryn, before we leave. So off we go on Thursday morning to feast on the most excellent Asian food including Bao buns, sushi, dumplings and ramen. If you like this kind of food, it’s well worth a visit. Yet again, Falmouth has been an excellent holiday opener – fun, relaxation, food and friends.
But work beckons so we head off to Brighton to visit a pub (it is ‘work’ really in its loosest sense!) We have a B&B on the seafront so wander around the pier, complete with tacky rides and donut outlets before heading to our chosen restaurant, Food for Friends, for some delicious, innovative veggie food which includes crispy cauliflower with satay sauce. Ben takes copious notes and vows to recreate the dish back home.
Friday sees Beck heading off to Moulescomb for a tour of various community projects, ending at The Bevy, a community owned pub on a housing estate, which had previously been closed due to anti-social behaviour. It’s an inspiring day full of examples of what is possible with people power and a great antidote to all the shit going on with Brexit. It shows just how much stronger we are when we collaborate. In the evening the heavens open, setting the stormy standard for the next week.
Round two of holidays sees us off on the Eurotunnel bound for Ghent. We’ve never been before and are impressed with the city. The Ghent Festival is on which means there are about 8 or 10 stages spread out across the city playing all types of music, from pop covers to classical, all free of charge. On our second evening, in the space of an hour we are treated to Prog Rock, Burlesque, Death Metal and later, on our way home, a busker playing a perfect rendition of Ave Maria on a violin.
Foody highlights include Epiphany’s Kitchen who serve wonderful gluten free veggie food (although we did want to hang around and see what the Italian customers made of the ‘pizzas’ – with gluten free bases these were basically potato rosti, and ‘pastas’ – made from spiralised veg), and Pain Perdu who kept us going with innovative breakfasts (burratta, tomatoes, capers and sourdough for instance). The festival keeps us awake all night at first (it’s also Belgian National Day, and a bank holiday weekend so we forgive them), so on the second night we get into the swing of it and stay out late, having also purchased ear plugs to keep out the worst of the parties once we return to base.
On Monday we wave goodbye to Belgium, already planning our return to Ghent, and head south through traffic to the Alsace and the village of Danne et Quatre Vents. This will be our base for the week, during which time the whole of Europe (including the UK) will experience a heatwave. It’s nice to stop traveling for a bit but the heat means we don’t do quite as much as we had planned. The thought of long walks, running or bike rides are just too overwhelming in the heat (around 40degrees most days). Still we fit in numerous visits to the onsite pool, and later in the week, a trip to Center Parcs for daredevil slides and whirlpools. We also manage a visit to the hill fort of St Petit Pierre and to the pretty town of Wissembourg. Later in the week the storms roll in, but it still sticks around 33 degrees.
Ben has also had to work a fair bit of the week, this being a slightly impromptu trip with family, rather than a pre-planned jaunt of our own, and so we are looking forward to heading this way again in September / October, when our contracts are over, for a longer break.
Final stop on our tour is back in Belgium, in the pretty town of Veurne. We arrive early and tell our B&B owner that we will go and get a coffee in the town square. In reality this turns in to ice cream and then beer! We also sample the obligatory Moules Frites, with more Belgian beer, and wander round the fair which is in town – turns out the Belgians really know how to party!!
Our B&B is an old school rooms with gorgeous gardens and antique furnishings. At breakfast the next morning we get into a discussion (inevitably) about Brexit and food standards (the breakfast is excellent with fresh fruit from the garden and homemade jams and marmelades). Belgium seems to have many of the same problems as the UK, with limited space, housing pressure, building on flood plains etc. We just hope they don’t come up with the mad solution of quitting the EU to deal with them.
The Eurotunnel is painless, as usual, and it’s only really when we hit the M1 that we experience congestion, due to an accident but worsened with the torrential rain, which delays us for about an hour. Once we get home, we end the holiday as we started it 3 weeks ago, in our local pub having dinner!