We handed in our dissertation on 15 Sep 2003, I think, and the very next day, we set off for our road trip after securing two cars two hours after we were supposed to set off - the guy who promised us a van for all nine of us couldn't be found *.* Luckily we hadn't paid any deposit!
Written based on memory and some scanned photos, 13 Apr 2011. Photos are from my fellow roadtrippers unless otherwise stated.
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Tuesday, 16 Sep
It took us some five hours or more to get to St Ives in Cornwall. Jens was driving the bigger car and Ridhi the smaller one. I was in Ridhi's car following Jens. And suddenly at a roundabout, I saw this thing rolled across the road right in front of us! Somehow it conjured the image of a penguin, perhaps of the dark colour.. But guess what? It was something from one of the wheels of the bigger car!! :p
No other mishaps except for a short distance during which we were a little lost... Back then, it was all maps!
We rented a nice cottage from a middle aged couple. I can no longer remember the name of the cottage but I remember that it took me a while to find cottages that could accommodate all of us! In this one, we had to move beds around, but we settled in well..
Wednesday, 17 Sep
The reason for choosing St Ives was Land's End - top picture.
We went by Marazion on the way back. I have no idea what we were doing there! We were consulting the maps there so perhaps we were lost and somehow found ourselves there? :p
And since we were there, and it was low tide, we walked over to St Michael's Mount where a castle beckoned.
Thursday, 18 Sep
Checking out was fun - by pushing the key through the letter hole in the door! But apparently the bristles along the way caught the key and the couple emailed me to say that they couldn't find the key on the other side of the door hoho!
With all our bags in the cars, we headed off to the Eden Project!
To me, rainforests weren't that big a deal but I suppose for people in the UK, in Europe, it's not something they see every day..
The journey to the second and last cottage in Bodmin was interesting. Somehow, we couldn't get on the right track. At one point, the bigger car had to drive through a really narrow gravel road - we were directed there by a local. Indeed, we got to our cottage!
It was so nice! The lady who owned the placed welcomed us warmly, and brought us around the main cottage and the games room (woohoo!), before leading us to the kitchen where she revealed a covered basket of scones and clotted cream! Heavenly!
But we still wanted dinner and we drove out to the supermarket. On the way back, there was a loud bang from the big car and we had a punctured tyre *.*
Friday - 19 Sep
We went to Tintagel Castle, once claimed to be the birthplace of King Arthur.. Um, complicated.. Anyway, I remember climbing a lot. And it was very windy. But we had an enjoyable afternoon sitting on grass patches here and there, just relaxing..
Someone took a photo of me taking a photo!
At dinner in our Bodmin cottage:
Saturday, 20 Sep
Our little road trip came to an end this day. This was really the beginning of the end of everything actually.. I left Oxford shortly after that, sighs =(
