by Impenetrable Mists
Wowzers the fog in England doesn’t mess around! I had A LONG day ahead of me, so I started early. I was on the road and well on my way into southwest England by 9AM, and so I sort of expected the low fog cover to burn off as the sun worked its way into the sky. Like fog does.
Except.
Except, nope, England fog is apparently a special breed because it stuck around ALL DAY. The fog fought the sun, and the fog won. It made for pretty driving through green hills barely visible 30 feet away through the thick blinding mist. But stopping off at Castle Drogo (no Khals to be found, sadly) was pointless since you couldn’t see one end of the gardens from the other end 50 feet away. Ah well.
Onwards to the southwestern coast line and the Penwith Heritage Coast.
End Of Line
The first stop was Land’s End, the western-most tip of England on that little leg that juts out towards Ireland. For some reason there’s a mini theme park village with two children’s attractions (including a Wallace & Grommet exhibit/thing because………?) and a gift shop and ice cream parlor and cornish pasties shop. It was… quite something. But you can just walk past all of that to the observation cliffs and look out at the North Atlantic and… the end of England. It was, to use my favorite expression so far on this journal: SO COOL.
It was a cold and windy day, so the waves were INSANE. I luckily brought a coat (a sentence anyone who knows me can attest is unique and unlike me) and so I was bundled up standing at the edge of England. The visibility was a bit poor, as you can see below, but it was still beyond stunning.
Cornwall Obscured
Then it was on to the rest of the Penwith Heritage Coast and the glorious views of the western coastline foggy hillsides with presumably some ocean to my left. I just know in my heart of hearts that this afternoon would’ve been even more unbelievably gorgeous if not for the effing fog. As I wound through small seaside coastal villages and through green pastures on a tiny one-lane road, I could tell from the map that the ocean was literally a few hundred feet to my left. BUT THAT DAMN FOG. Ah well. It leaves something to the imagination and a future return trip to discover the beautiful landscape of Cornwall County.
Oh, There’s A Town
Also, one small thing I’ve noticed in these drives: you don’t need to look at a map to know when a town is soon approaching; you need only look for the four-pointed cathedral/church square jutting above the landscape. The catholic church sure knew how to create a visible landmark.
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