Cornish Pirates, Privateers and pasties
Travel Diary by Dave Abbott
Read a little Jane Austin, Blake or modern-day heroes like Harry Potter and James Herriot and the countryside forms an image in your mind. You don't have to go there to know what it looks like. Devoted readers know the landmarks and what they look like without ever actually seeing it.
 |
|
ONE OF THE COUNTLESS peaceful coves along the coast of Cornwall which has a rich history of providing sanctuary for smugglers, pirates and privateers escaping the British Navy.
|
England is the only place in the world where a blind man could discuss the countryside intelligently since it exists as a literary concept. Over the centuries the country has been divided into patches known for their literary associations.
Bronte or Wordsworth country is a clear picture to every English schoolchild. What the countryside looks like, including the local church and view from the hill, is part of their reading heritage from an early age.
The first thing you notice when you visit Cornwall is the friendliness. Strangers nod hello and locals actually smile on you. Drivers stop to let you pass. People seem comfortable in their skin.
Barbara Cartland, the glamorous relative of the late Princess Diana, and author of countless bodice rippers, was asked whether she thought class barriers had broken down in Britain to which she replied, "of course they have, or I wouldn't be sitting here talking to someone like you."
Cornwall is a bit like that. It's a place of myth and folklore whose barriers have collapsed under the weight of tourists, mostly home-grown. Parts of it are Blackpool and Brighton look-a-likes, especially Land's End, the poor man's hurdy-gurdy-imitation-Disney-like-fairground-entertainment-center, complete with stale-sticky-buns and condensed-milky tea.
It's a super-sized souvenir stand.
Immortalized in Rebecca, Cornwall is Daphne du Maurier country and regions of it command undivided attention. Her love of the county and her pride of place in it is cemented with her neo-classic House on the Strand. It's as if landscape paintings and images have been drawn in words seen through a window or from a train.
Touring the Cornwall coastline it's easy to see how ideal it was for hiding ships wishing to escape the British Navy pursuing them. Ringed by countless coves and bays, and caves gouged by relentless seas, they provided sanctuary for smugglers, pirates and privateers escaping the English Navy. "Aye Jim Boy, the Pirates of Penzance were real."
French and Irish renegade ships after crossing the English Channel could hide in them with little fear of detection although there was a fear of being shipwrecked in the treacherous waters.
 |
|
WRECK OF THE RMS Mülheim off Land's End, Cornwall. The white buildings on the cliff top is the first and last house at Land's End.
|
Cornish locals enjoyed luring ships to their death by showing a light to entice navigators onto the deadly rocks that ultimately became their gravesites. Shipwreck salvage was a profitable industry.
Touring narrow lanes, desolate moors and coastal roads in a rented Scoda, we stumbled across hidden village gems known to, relatively speaking, only a select few.
Take Fowey, (pronounced Foy it rhymes with Joy) for example. It lies on an estuary and is blessed with a natural harbour that made it a smugglers haven. We stayed at Fowey Hall a Nineteenth Century manor house, once the residence of a wealthy local businessman.
Overlooking the secluded harbour it provided inspiration for Toad Hall in The Wind in the Willows. As a hotel it is a wonderful cozy comforting classy evocation of earlier times. Highly recommended. (www.foweyhallhotel.com)
Further south to St. Ives, a maze of narrow lanes suggesting ghosts of fishmongers. Cars are not welcome. Our stay at the Garack Hotel was memorable because of the replete English breakfasts.
Next stop Port Isaac, a charming tiny backwater of a place, once an important port for quarrying slate. Now it tolerates a few fishermen with lobster pots.
The local watering spot, Port Gaverne Hotel, could qualify as a movie set complete with characters like Reggie, a fine "chap" with his RAF moustache, cavalry twills and blazer holding forth on the merits of England's "place in the sun."
Cornwall is a magnet for the eccentric, the offbeat, the lost soul, a Celtic place!
Glastonbury, our last stop, once home to King Arthur and his Knights, was impossible to resist. Infamous because of the annual music festival which has been described as the English hajj, a British Mecca - a secular pilgrimage for hippies, yippies, travelers, hairies, the tribe, the clan, eco-warriors, alternative health pushers and outreach social workers.
We ate fish and chips huddled in a doorway escaping the constant drizzle trying to imagine it as the location for Britain's Woodstock. Our stopover was at Fay's Chalice Hill House (call 011-44-1458-830828) an elegant manor house filled with warmth and hospitality. A return visit is mandatory.
Some years had passed since our last visit to the UK. The fast new trains run on time and provide excellent service. Our train travels were perfect for getting to and from Manchester, Plymouth, Potters Bar, St. Alban's and Gatwick. Buy a rail pass. It's great value and highly recommended. (www.Britrail.com).
The UK is more prosperous, more violent, drug-addicted, more expensive and very USA Today. Cross-cultural Anglo-American pollination is a daily occurrence.
U.S. style and fashion inundates the under thirties market abetted by television programs, movies, music and packaged foods. They hate George W. Bush, but love America. Madonna and Kevin Spacey are just a few of the U.S. celebrities who live there.
Rudy Giuliani, Bill and Hilary Clinton, Alan Greenspan (now Sir) are regular visitors and all presidential candidates, including Republicans and Democrats are all "dropping by" to replenish their coffers.
One of my favourite Yankee travel writers, Bill Bryson is now a "posh" anglophile and University Chancellor. The NBA, NFL and NHL all play exhibition games in England and always sell out.
Contrary to my previous beliefs, the English must retain the monarchy or they'll end up as nothing more than an ancient and polluted Las Vegas-Disneyland playground.
Valuable websites: www.visitbritain.com - www.minack.com - www.thecornwallreview.co.uk - www.airtransat.com.
Dave Abbott's Travel Diary is heard three times daily on The Unforgettable 600 AM Radio. For further information, visit: www.irishlaughter.com.
|
