Day 7 Gweek and Helford

Todays Cornish adventure saw us cross another 2 letters off our A - Z challenge.

Firstly we headed to the village of Gweek. Gweek is a small village approximately 3 miles from Helston, on the edge of the River Helford. (Cornish: Gwig, meaning forest village)

We stopped in the village for a short while to appreciate the view of the boats on the river in the glorious sunshine.

From here we headed into a housing estate where we found the Cornish Seal Sanctuary hidden away amongst the houses.

Lucky we had a tourist pass to get us in for free or it would of cost us £14.50 entry each - a bit steep we thought for what it is.

When we got inside we headed down to the Seal Hospital to find out a bit more about the seals that had been rescued. Luckily they did not have any patients today. The chap manning the hospital gave a rather informative talk on what they do when a rescued seal is brought into the sanctuary.

From here we headed down hill and explored the main seal pools, sea lions, penguins and otters.

We spent quite a while in the underwater section of the seal pool trying to get a good photo for todays blip, but they seemed a bit camera shy and it took forever just to get a clear head shot.

The otters seemed to be more obliging and lay basking in the April sunshine posing for their photo to be taken. Jules seemed quite taken by these little guys and asked if he could have one for a pet!

After that we headed for some lunch and although I would normally avoid over priced food at tourist attractions, we thought that the burger, chips and drink meal deal at £5.50 was good value for money - and tasty too. We had our lunch whilst we overlooked the pretty river sparkling in the sunshine.

After lunch we headed back to the seal tanks to try and get 1 last picture. We ended up watching one seal for 10 mins while he tried to climb his way out of one of the smaller tanks to go and see his friends in the big tank. He tried and tried and tried and everyone was willing him to do it. When he finally managed to get himself out the crowd let out a cheer!

After visiting the seal sanctuary we travelled the short distance just along the river to Helford. After parking the car we took a short walk down the hill into the village and along to the newly refurbished Shipwrights Arms where we had a cuppa whilst overlooking the river. The 18th Century thatched pub was only re-opened last thursday after extensive refurbishment. A perfect place for an afternoon in the sun.

All in all a nice day out in the April sunshine.