PENZANCE - SANS PIRATES

Took the bike for a spin along the trail by the river from Bath with high hopes for a good ride with a small hill to a cafe at the turn around point for me.  Sadly after a while the trail was closed for maintenance work and no alternative route was available according to the sign. I had a look at my map but the route I worked out as the best to avoid main roads was just too windy and too long to get me back to town in time for my train.

Turned around, got to town, found a spot in the sun and enjoyed morning tea. I then spend a very pleasant hour or so at the art gallery viewing an extensive exhibition of work by the Bath Artists Society.  Bath has a long history as an art creation and education centre and the variety in the woks made it very worthwhile.   There were well over 200 to choose from and I found I had to go back and check a few of them before settling on a favourite piece. 

I made my train with time to spare which gave me time to find out where the bike space was likely to be.  I had a short trip to change at Westbury into the Penzance train, which had a guard carriage with bike racks so didn't have to worry about it during the long trip. 

I had actually misremembered the length of my journey and when I checked it was surprised to find it a good couple of hours longer than I thought.  I got a fair bit of reading done, used the free wifi a bit and listened to a few podcasts.  Very relaxing.

I got into the hotel, dumped my bags and went back to the station to meet Lauren who arrived on a later train. It was good to finally catch up in person, Facebook is good,  but not the same as seeing each other.  Quick nightcap and sleep. 

I was lazy about Penzance and should have looked around more, or investigated more before I got there perhaps but it's been a long time on the road.  We didn't stand still though, as the weather wasn't too bad and we walked a few miles along the coast to see the castle on the rock that is St Michael's Mount.  The tide was out so we could cross on the causeway, which also had a section closed for maintenance (must be maintenance time of the year).

Lauren and I have optimistically joined the National Trust confident that we will get our money's worth on this ride and in Australia for me, Italy for Lauren thanks to the reciprocal agreements. The castle was ok, I was particularly interested in the indoor succulent garden until I found out it was set up as a temporary thing and doesn't live indoors at all. The plants go back to the garden shortly. There were some intriguing memorabilia pieces, including a shred of fabric from Napoleon's jacket.

Ate dinner at a restaurant  called Mackerel Sky, which I would recommend to anyone going to Penzance. When we got back so we the hotel the blues jam session had started directly below our room, running until 11.30 but we both men aged to fall asleep ahead of that.

Another quick trawl around the town in the morning before  being collected to join the cycle tour lot.