Costa del Cornwall

With a week off work it was time to take the Mr Men tent for another outing - this time closer to home at the Lizard Peninsula.

Mum and I booked a week at Penrose camp site in Porthleven for the bargain price of £5 per night, complete with a sea view and the weather sent straight from the Gods.

Mr Greedy seemed happy with the set up....

and so did the dogs. While Mum pottered around for hours pitching her version of the Taj Mahal they found shade under the porch. 

The campsite has two large fields for tents and apparently the one we were in was only supposed to be used in August - oops! So the farmer came round and cut the grass, leaving us with our own overgrown garden area.

Mum's Taj Mahal

After we were all pitched up and cosy it was time to find a beach to cool the dogs down - which turned out to be easier said than done.

First we headed in to Porthleven which turned out to be more harbour than beach (or so we thought at the time). Next on to Loe Bar, where it seemed you couldn't get down to the water without a 20 minutes coastal path walk which Homer downright refused to do.

Next on to Mullion Cove which was only a jetty for boats.

So determined that Google wasn't lying we headed back to Porthleven to find the beach there and Homer finally cooled off in the sea.

Back at the camp site Mum tried to impress me with her amazing hurricane lamp - if only she could remember how to light it properly.

I think I'll stick to my solar Ikea ones for now.

On Sunday we woke up to glorious sunshine again so headed off down to Penzance to spend the day at Long Rock beach, with newly bought beach tents!

After having a lovely day eating ice cream, swimming in the sea and generally chilling out on the beach we headed back to the camp site.

Lying outside waiting for it to get dark so we could watch the stars...

While we were waitingo we did some cloud shape spotting instead. I give you a kangaroo...

I know I know, but it was the only cloud in the sky!!

The next morning we were up early to catch the ferry to the Isles of Scilly.

After over three baking hot hours we arrived!

Just in time, in Homer's opinion, as it was time for another dip in the sea. Only then could we explore the island. 

We found some strange rock piles...

and then went hunting for my first geocache. For those of you who don't know what Geocaching is, let me explain. It's basically a worldwide treasure hunt, with crap treasure, but it's quite fun finding random bits and bobs tucked away in places most people just pass by.

After finding the cache it was time to have some lunch at a local pub and then head back to the ferry. It would be great to spend a while there exploring the islands, but at least we had a couple of hours. Somehow being surrounded by water was very comforting, and we saw dolphins on the way back - bonus!

The next day we were joined by Helen and Lisa. Again the weather was really nice, but very hot so we headed to the beach to cool down in the water...

After roasting like pig crackling in the salty sea we went into Porthleven that evening to try to find somewhere we could have a nice cold cocktail. Unfortunately, it's not quite the cocktail kind of place. 

So Helen did a bit of fishing...

and Lisa tried to take a boat out.

Random snorkeler in the sea - which nobody could see but me, so here is the proof.

After some yummy sausage sandwiches for breakfast the next day we drove down to Land's End.

Homer and Barley had a little swim in what was a clear pool...

until they arrived.

After Land's End we went to Sennen Cove - the most beautiful beach I have ever seen in Cornwall. The weather was scorching and the sea turquoise, so we cooled off by having a little dip.

Lisa and Helen headed home and Mum and I went back to our field. Homer was obviously exhausted from the day's activities - or he thought he was little red riding dog.

On Thursday we decided to go for a walk around the Penrose coastal path (the one right next to our campsite) and do some more geocaching. 

The view from our first find....

Homer and Barley had a dip again, this time in Loe Bar lake...

Mum trying to find the cache...

but failing - time to let the professionals have a go :-) 

Me with my cache...

Around the walk there is a 'Green Gym', so an outside set of exercise equipment. Here's me looking like I can do the monkey bars - thanks to a quick shutter speed as I fell off half a second later.

Afterwards the quick workout we drove to St Ives. 

It was very busy and a bit too hot for us with all that touristy commotion, so we went back to the sleepy Porthleven for a final couple of geocaches of the day.

When we were trying to find one in this area I was a bit shocked to find it might involve climbing down the steps that led to the sea - luckily a muggle (a non-geocaching person - not someone from Harry Potter who can't do magic) helped us out. He must have known what we were up to after all!!

Friday morning I was up and dressed (in normal clothes) to head off to an all day workshop in Falmouth for work. Very strange having to socialise with people who hadn't spent their week in a field, but it was great to hear about their busy weeks and how jealous they were of me relaxing in the sun ;-)

Saturday was our last day so just like the rest of the week we went to the beach, let the dogs have a paddle, did a spot of geocaching and ate lots of yummy food. 

Geodogs...

If only the weather was always like this in Costa del Cornwall.