Cornwall is seriously wet
Posted on August 1.
So on Tuesday (the 29th) I hitchhiked down to Penzance in Cornwall. Viv dropped me off at a gas station outside town and I started hitching from there. It took a long time to get going but I lucked out and got a lift all the way to Exeter (just over 100 miles). It took me two lifts (one with a millionaire (seriously) in a fancy Lexus and one with a Scottish Air Rescue helicopter pilot) which got me to Saltash, about 60 miles from Penzance. The train was only going to be £4 from there so I had a nap on the train.
I arrived in Penzance to a break in the clouds and beautiful sunshine. Within 20 minutes though it had clouded back over and started to drizzle. I met up with my couchsurfing host, a really nice guy named Flinn and we went out to meet up with some of his friends. The group "hangout" is in one of his friends' conservatory where I spent a lot of my time in Penzance (it rained most of the time).
The rain was ridiculous too. It seemed to switch between the standard constant English drizzle and almost sub-tropical torrential rainshowers. I can now see how it's so green down there. I got soaked mutiple times.
A group of Flinn's friends were going to a fancy dress music festival (eh?) and there was a Japanese theme. One guy had decided to dress as a samurai and the others had decided to band together and go as Pearl Harbour (they had a girl dressed in white with pearls and stockings with ships on them and the rest were dressed as Japanese airplanes). I spent a few good hours drinking and helping craft and paint airplanes out of cardboard.
I didn't end up doing that much sightseeing (and therefore didn't get many pictures, oops) because of the rain but I did make it up to St Ives which was really beautiful. Even Penzance itself was really nice though I think it might be a bit of a place that's nicer to visit than to live.
All in all though, I saw a lot of pubs, drank a bunch, and had a great time.
I've got a friend in Germany I've been trying to visit for ages (she's been in Peru while I've been here) and she comes back next week so I've got booked my tickets today to head back to Germany (Aug 19th). From there it's either Sweden or Italy (probably Italy first) and then, to be honest, I'm contemplating coming home. Don't get me wrong, I'm not really homesick but I'm kinda feeling like I'm ready to get on with my life.
Ah well, we'll see how things go.
So on Tuesday (the 29th) I hitchhiked down to Penzance in Cornwall. Viv dropped me off at a gas station outside town and I started hitching from there. It took a long time to get going but I lucked out and got a lift all the way to Exeter (just over 100 miles). It took me two lifts (one with a millionaire (seriously) in a fancy Lexus and one with a Scottish Air Rescue helicopter pilot) which got me to Saltash, about 60 miles from Penzance. The train was only going to be £4 from there so I had a nap on the train.
I arrived in Penzance to a break in the clouds and beautiful sunshine. Within 20 minutes though it had clouded back over and started to drizzle. I met up with my couchsurfing host, a really nice guy named Flinn and we went out to meet up with some of his friends. The group "hangout" is in one of his friends' conservatory where I spent a lot of my time in Penzance (it rained most of the time).
The rain was ridiculous too. It seemed to switch between the standard constant English drizzle and almost sub-tropical torrential rainshowers. I can now see how it's so green down there. I got soaked mutiple times.
A group of Flinn's friends were going to a fancy dress music festival (eh?) and there was a Japanese theme. One guy had decided to dress as a samurai and the others had decided to band together and go as Pearl Harbour (they had a girl dressed in white with pearls and stockings with ships on them and the rest were dressed as Japanese airplanes). I spent a few good hours drinking and helping craft and paint airplanes out of cardboard.
I didn't end up doing that much sightseeing (and therefore didn't get many pictures, oops) because of the rain but I did make it up to St Ives which was really beautiful. Even Penzance itself was really nice though I think it might be a bit of a place that's nicer to visit than to live.
All in all though, I saw a lot of pubs, drank a bunch, and had a great time.
I've got a friend in Germany I've been trying to visit for ages (she's been in Peru while I've been here) and she comes back next week so I've got booked my tickets today to head back to Germany (Aug 19th). From there it's either Sweden or Italy (probably Italy first) and then, to be honest, I'm contemplating coming home. Don't get me wrong, I'm not really homesick but I'm kinda feeling like I'm ready to get on with my life.
Ah well, we'll see how things go.
