Day 8 - Tintagel Castle and Royal Cornwall Show

Today we got up and enjoyed a cereal, yogurt, and fruit breakfast.  Grandma said she wanted to stay home and rest today, so Mom and I prepared to go.  Mom had her heart set on seeing Tintagel Castle which is up north, further away than Port Isaac.  I wasn’t keen to drive that far again, but I also wanted to see this reputed beautiful place.  So we started on the road towards Tintagel.  We stopped off in Camborne to change money.  We tried a bank first but they wouldn’t do it because we didn’t have accounts there and suggested we go to the Post Office which we did successfully.

As we were driving there, we passed the Royal Cornwall Show where we found congested traffic.  A lot of people were going there and they had a huge field where people were parking.  We had to drive so slowly through that area, we could look through openings in the hedges and fences and see horses and riders all tacked up for showing which peaked our interest.  Of course we had to press on but part of us wanted to go to the show, as well.

As we approached Tintagel, I could see this building in the distance that looked familiar.  I recognized it from the premier episode of Doc Martin as the place he meets the committee that appoints him.  Once we parked, we started walking towards the castle.

Sites in Tintagel, taken by Mom

View of the church on our walk, taken by Mom

Views along our walk, taken by Mom

Unfortunately (or fortunately as it turned out), we missed the sign post directing us to the castle.  After walking for 10-15 minutes, we came around the corner and saw that very building I had seen in the distance!

Camelot Hotel, taken by Mom

It is the Camelot Hotel and if you walk just past it, you can get to a great view point of Tintagel Castel across the cliffs.  If you could fly over them, you could get to the castle in a matter of seconds.  But there is no access to it from this point.  So we took some pictures as long as we were there.

View down to the castle, taken by Mom

Another view, taken by Mom

Pathways down to the castle, taken by Mom

I chatted with a nice English lady who’s husband walked down to take pictures where Mom had also gone.  I asked her if the hotel was the one I had seen in Doc Martin and she agreed.  She said she and her husband had been in Port Isaac the day before and saw them shooting Doc Martin scenes with Mrs. Tishel, the chemist and that Martin Clunes who plays the doc would be there tomorrow!

After walking back to the village, we finally saw the sign directing us to the castle.  It was a steep walk down and we could pay 2 pounds to take a ride down.  We both decided to walk but it took Mom a lot longer with her bum knee.  So I looked through the gift shop while waiting and saw some neat things and ideas for gifts!

Path down to the castle with side paths to other ruins on the way

Cafe and stream at the entrance to the castle

Once Mom arrived, we paid our entrance fees and started with a short film explaining the history of the castle.

Tintagel Castle is considered the legendary seat of King Arthur.  The film taught us about the origin of this story which is most likely nothing more than just that... a story.  A good story, but a story.

King Arthur

A monk created the figure with stories of his moral and heroic behavior to inspire the nation.  The story was changed and updated over the centuries until the current story was developed.  The actual builder of the castle was Richard, Earl of Cornwall in the 13th century.  It fell into ruins and was repaired over the centuries.  The castle is strategically situated on this peninsula referred to as an island which may be more of an island at high tide.  After the film, we started our walk into the castle.  This included a very steep and narrow climbing up the side of the mountain to the top of the island.

Mom makes her way up to the castle

View of the rocky beach below

Mom's still climbing!  Camelot Hotel in the background as well as the path up to the ruins above the gift shop not on the island

Doorway/Entrance into the castle itself

Once we were up there, however, it was an AMAZING view of not only the castle ruins, but also the nature around us and back to Tintagel and Camelot Hotel.  We enjoyed walking around the ruins and seeing the other former structures such as the chapel.  It was very windy, but the views were incredible.

After climbing back down to the gift shop, we got our souvenirs and then, looking at the clock, realized we needed to take the ride back up to get to the car park in time.  So we paid our 2 pounds each and took the ride.  We paid for another our for the car park and then went to find lunch.  We stopped at “Pengenna Restaurant” and sat outside for an alfresco meal.

Mom ordered a potato leek soup and I ordered a cheese [potato] chive pasty.  We shared our food with each other and enjoyed both dishes.

It was getting to late afternoon, so we started the drive back to Camborne.  Once we again passed the Royal Cornwall Show, we could still see horses and riders so Mom suggested we turn around and go see it.  There was a little road to the right just then, so we did just that.  Pulling into the parking field, we saw that there was no charge to park!  So then we walked towards the entrance to the show.  We could see there was a charge of over 8 pounds to get it in!  That was a bit more than we wanted to pay, but began steeling ourselves to have to do so.  When we stopped at the entrance, we saw a lot of people leaving, so we asked if the show was over.  We were told it was still going on and when asking about the entrance fee, they said due to the lateness of the day, we could go in for free!  Woo-hoo!

In the main arena there was a group from Australia doing tricks on four-wheelers.  I began to fear we had just missed the horse show.  But we kept walking and found a riding ring behind the main arena where there were about thirty horse and riders all dressed in hunt outfits, mounted, and ready to ride.

We asked a fellow onlooker if there were upcoming horse events and she told us that there was a hunt relay coming up and that if we slipped into the grand stand, we wouldn’t have to pay for our seats!  Sure enough, people were leaving and after the four-wheelers were done, we found front row seats in chairs on the ground level!  After about 20 minutes, the course was set up by teenage Air Cadets and the riders and walked the course in their teams.

So now it was time for the relay to begin.  The first two teams started and I then realized that a rider from each team would be on the course at the same time, one on each side.  After two jumps,

they had to walk over a “bridge” which was a wooden bottom between a jump with two poles about 3-4 feet apart from each other.

Then they had to open a gate, go through it, and close/latch it behind them

before completing the rest of the jumps,

the final one being a “hedge” which was a jump stuffed with tree branches.

Some of the horses refused jumps and if they couldn’t get them to take them after several attempts, they would signal a team member to come and take the hunt crop and complete the course for them.  One girl couldn’t get through the gate and latch it behind her without getting off her horse.  By then, the horse was so spooked he wouldn’t stand for her to mount after multiple attempts, so she had to have then next rider come and take over.  It was a great show and we loved cheering with the crowd as the riders took the jumps successfully.  It was a lot different from stadium jumping where the audience is silent while the riders complete the course, one at a time.  Afterwards, the judges awarded the ribbons.

After that, they announced they would have stadium jumping as well!  So we stayed for that, too.

By the time the last rider had taken the course, the sun we very low!  It was fantastic with only one rider being unseated.  He took a bad fall and horse went over him.  I couldn’t tell from where I was sitting if the horse trod on him or not.  He was able to get up and walk off the course and people standing at the entrance to the arena caught his mount.  The final rider was the winner and we watched him get his award.

Then it was time to drive back to our lodge.  Grandma was wondering where we were!  We warmed up some leftovers for supper and then Mom walked up to the wifi zone before bed.

Great day!