22nd April Day six of the 'Great Cornish getaway' based at Seaview farm, Mullion

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22^nd April  - Day six of the Cornwall tour

Seaview Farm, Mullion

Breakfast discussions centre around three major issues. Firstly, how much ventilation does a motorhome need at night? Secondly how do we develop harmonious living routines and, finally, how can I possibly miscalculate the toilet fluid input?

The second discussion is quick, based around our ‘etiquette for avoiding divorce’ (see previous blog post on this subject). We agree that during the pandemic when toilet facilities are closed and we are using our onboard facilities, I can avoid cooking duties since I’m dealing with the toilet cassette, the waste water tank, external cleaning and maintenance and most of the driving. I forlornly try for getting out of the washing up as well but I know I’ve already lost that argument. I put up a half-hearted, feeble attempt; frankly pathetic and it draws a snort of derision from Mag. Rightly so to be fair. She knows she is onto a good thing in the motorhome with a bed fairy, a toilet cassette fairy and a ‘magic morning coffee producing’ fairy, ready when she steps out of the bathroom.

The discussion about ventilating the motorhome is more earnest. I don’t like getting hot and positively enjoy colder climes. I’ll happily settle for a motorhome habitation unit temperature around 10C and a fleece. Maggie hasn’t dipped a toe in the British sea since around 2001, likes a cabin temperature of around 22C and even then, would be wearing a duvet jacket as well. I win the argument about having one skylight partially opened a centimetre or so during the night on the grounds of allowing sufficient airflow to avoid condensation on the inside of the windscreen the following morning. Phew – close call! 

The third discussion we haven’t had yet. It’s embarrassing. I am very numerically challenged and this morning I realised that I had been using almost three times the amount of green toilet cassette fluid I needed to be using. No wonder the bathroom smells fragrant! Thank God, I put in an extra bottle of the stuff as well! A rapid bout of very funny sarcastic scorn is heading my way and masochistically, I’m torn between wanting to avoid it and also wanting to hear what devastatingly witty one liner will emerge from my wife’s mouth about my mathematical inability.

The weather is balmy. Temperatures of 14C, clear blue skies, plenty of sunshine and fresh winds of 28mph with gusts to 35 mph. We opt for a long bike ride. From Mullion we head up to HMS Culdrose via Poldhu Cove and the villages of Cury and Nanithet, coming out on the A3083 just a hundred metres of so south of the roundabout. We call in at the viewing area to watch a Merlin HM MK2 take off before descending down to the Creekside village of Gweek (famous for its seal sanctuary). I’m on a mission to scope out potential dinghy camp cruising sites along the Helford river, for a trip later this year. Gweek proves charming but fateful.

Whilst calling in at the boatyard café for a Latte and a piece of gooey Snicker’s brownie, I notice that my rear tyre has deflated. The perils of a boatyard, lots of odd tiny tacks lying around. Still, toilet, café, cake, Mag is happy and I set to work stripping out the old tube and replacing it with a new one. Forty minutes later the job is done, the rear sprocket and gear set is functioning as it should. At this point, Mag’s bike is blown off its stand and crashes badly to the floor deforming the mudguard which now rubs the front wheel. I effect a temporary repair but it will need surgery when we get back to the farm. The old tube can be repaired back at the campsite and carried as the ‘spare’.

From Gweek, we follow the Creekside and lanes up to Mawgan and then back down to Trelowarren Mill and on to St Martin, Newtown and Traboe. The roads are narrow, hedge lined (giving shelter from the vicious winds) and full of flowering verges and banks. There are interesting views across the fields and heathland to the giant dishes of Goonhilly Earth Station, sadly no longer with a visitor centre, (which is rather disappointing!). Re-joining the B3293, we cycle down to Zoar before going back onto the traffic free lanes down to Coverack via Crousa Downs and Penhalick.

 

Coverack is charming but stormy. The sun is shining, the seas are a malevolent serpentine green-grey with thousands of white horses and spume filled air. Three large tankers are anchored a mile off shore, their bows facing the stormy seas head on. Waves crash against the outer harbour wall sending spray over the wall into the harbour where moored boats bob energetically, tugging violently at their mooring lines. The waves also surge rapidly with force into the little bay and up against the recently rebuilt sea wall.

After a picnic, sat on a bench in the shelter of a little peninsula by the playpark, we head back up the road to Traboe Cross where we turn left across Goonhilly Downs before passing through Hendra village where the local farmer stops us so that her husband can bring in the herd of highland cattle for milking.

Back at Seaview farm, the puncture is repaired and the mileage totted up – 33 miles. A good work out, even on electric bikes, against some major headwinds.