Camelid

With the forecast for the day being terrible it was time to break out some indoor activities, and that turned into learning a lot about alcohol. 

Off to Healeys Cyder Farm first thing, mainly because they were home to the first distillery in Cornwall in 300 years, and purport to make a very good single malt whisky. The farm itself is quite nicely laid out, but it's all very 'corporate', after the completion of a new, massive visitor centre. The guided tour, slated for 45 minutes, dragged on to an hour longer than that, with some lassies from Manchester determined to get hammered on the tasting.

Some really nice cider, it has to be said, and as well as a couple of bottles, I did come away with some of their single malt, but the farm animals (with little bantam chooks-aplenty) were actually the most interesting part. The additional hour also meant having to forego lunch in order to get up to Camel Valley, and the vines of Cornish wine.

By contrast this was an utterly informative and relaxed affair, and but for the leaden skies, could well have been any one of the French vineyards I've taken photos of in the past.

Later a cloud was cast, despite the rain clouds finally parting, as I whacked the passenger side wing mirror, cracking the indicator glass. Such a joyful thing to happen on a hire car, and something I've never done before. That's gonna hurt.

But we continued along the coast heading south, Passing through the narrow, steep streets of pretty Mevagissey, and on to the equally narrow and steep lanes of Gorrans Haven, where at 4 in the afternoon I was finally able to eat. Chips on the beach, watching the not-too-busy people wandering about. Perfect.

This bit of the coast, north of Portloe, rather than south where we walked yesterday, with the villages peppering it, was much more like what we had hoped to see.

And so the forecast today was slightly out, with the rain not as bad as feared, so we're hoping the rain forecast for the entire weekend is similarly miscalculated (though a boat trip has already been cancelled by the company responsible).