Wednesday morning required an early start (comparatively) as Russell's baking course in Philleigh was about an hours drive away and included a ferry crossing that could possibly add 30 mins to that.
As luck would have it we timed the ferry perfectly and rolled on for the 10 minute crossing under grey skies.
The ferry crosses 300 metres of the River Fal saving motorists a 27 mile drive around and has been in operation since 1888!
After dropping Russell off a few minutes early we continued on to the historic town of Charlestown, aiming for the Shipwreck Museum.
Charlestown Harbour
Unfortunately it was extremely cold and windy providing the perfect excuse for a 'cream tea' (known to us in Oz as a Devonshire tea) where the size of the scone almost defeated Sam.
The Shipwreck museum was very interesting and included early diving equipment, rescue gear, a history of the local clay export business plus numerous displays and interpretative information of actual shipwrecks and recovered items.
More than ready for lunch after this maritime extravaganza, we drove a little further east to Fowey, a spectacular little village at the mouth of the River Fowey. Characterised by even tinier winding streets than most others we have seen, we parked well out of the village at the top of the hill and walked down a very steep hill to the action. By now the weather was on the improve and we ate lunch on the quay watching an assortment of floating craft pass by and some hardy kids swimming (in the obligatory wetsuits.)
View to Polruan from Fowey
Fowey had some wonderful little shops tucked away in its winding streets but unfortunately time was running out and a quick look had to suffice before we boarded the village bus up the hill (my shout, there was no way I was walking up THAT hill.)
Arriving back in Philleigh a little late thanks to some local farm vehicles 😉 we found Russell waiting for us clutching a bag brimming with his day's efforts – soda bread, white bread, focaccia and sourdough! Sam could hardly wait to tear open the crust and we stocked up on suitable accompaniments en route at the ever open Tesco's.
Some time later we all agreed that whatever it had cost Russell had been well worth it and we look forward to him honing his skills further with the new oven at home 🙂
King Harry Ferry
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