We could have nipped home back through the channel tunnel, but for the minor (110mile) diversion we took the ferry from La Havre to Portsmouth and then down to visit family in Falmouth.

Falmouth means several things to us, they all revolve around food, even the family bit:

• Bev will inevitably make her fantastic scones
• We will take a walk along the coast and end up at a pub, this time the rather nice Pandora Inn
• We will determine which pasty shop is the best, this time Warrens wins it with the usual favourite Rowe’s taking a nosedive in our ratings
• Bobby will rustle up some fantastic eggs bobbydict with an extra packet of butter in the hollandaise
• We will walk over to Swanpool for an ice-cream (this time we didn’t partake due to the vast number of scones consumed previously)
• There will be a visit to the cosy Wheelhouse for seafood
• Martin will spend hours picking over crabs for a BBQ on the beach (this time the weather wasn’t supportive of the BBQ idea so it was an indoor BBQ)
• We will wander the high street looking in all the great independent shops and obviously slot in a beer from Beerwolf Books, or at the more rustic Front

If you are ever heading to Falmouth then do book ahead and get a table at the Wheelhouse, well, only if you like seafood cooked really well in a great atmosphere. It’s a simple menu, pick from Crab, Lobster, Prawn, Scallops or Mussels, pick a size depending on how hungry (Beck) or greedy (Ben) you are, pick a sauce and await the shell cracking fun.

On this visit, Beerwolf disappointed by offering beers from Manchester (several Blackjack + 1 Marble 2.7%) or Derbyshire (Shiny – “Best beer in the country in my opinion” according to the barman who obviously needs to try some other beer). There was unfortunately only one local beer on offer. I can understand bringing in beer from elsewhere via a wholesaler but it seemed a bit lazy to have beer from two breweries that are heavily into their swapping so would have a large array of alternatives on offer to pop on the pallet. Ben had a can of Saison from the fridge by Black Flag (Cornwall at least) but it was more of an IPA and had very little Saison. I am fairly sure the beer lineup was the same last time we were down, but it’s a lovely venue and we will try it again next time.

The Front provided a much better selection, this is a very Camra pub, you swap the funky decor of Beerwolf for much better beer on constant rotation with knowledgeable staff. We brought in Fish and Chips from the adjacent Harbour Lights and ate them at the table with beery accompaniments. Harbour lights is excellent and the meal was especially nice having been on a 6 week tour away from a chippy & decent pint.