The St Tudy area

It's Monday morning. We're in St Tudy, a tiny village in the northern part of Cornwall, near the Atlantic coast, but not so near that we're swamped with tourists. In fact it's really quiet here, and the only pub/eating place in town is closed today. All day.

Location

We arrived on Saturday afternoon, 4:00pm check-in. Having been required to check out at Lostwithiel by 10:30am we had quite a bit of time to kill that day, too much in fact, particularly as the travel time between the two accommodations was less than an hour. Some of it we killed by visiting Bodmin, museum, etc, picking up a Cornish Pasty for lunch, and some of it we killed by relaxing in a car park at Camelford, doing nothing except read our books and visit the local Spar supermarket. It was a pleasant enough day and we also booked a table for Saturday night at the St Tudy Inn, our new local, which has a well deserved reputation as a great place to eat.

As I suspected, wireless communication in the village is spotty at best; at our accommodation in the town centre the phones etc show No Service or one bar at most. Never mind, out on the main road a few minutes walk away we have workable service and the St Tudy Inn has free fast WiFi, so that is likely to get some use over the next few days.

Ours is one of four cottages in a terrace, built 200 years ago. Bedrooms upstairs (steep and narrow) and the remainder on the ground floor.

The village is hundreds of years old, but still very small. Among its claims to fame are that it was home village for William Bligh in his formative years.

Plaque in the village church

So, what to do in such a small village "in the middle of nowhere" whose pub is closed two nights a week? Well, firstly the pub was not closed on our first night, Saturday, and as previously mentioned, we had to make a reservation to ensure a meal on Saturday night. That meal was the best we'd had yet and so we made a reservation for the next available night, Tuesday (and that's tomorrow!).

In reality, from an Australian point of view, St Tudy is not in the middle of nowhere, but a short distance from the coast (perhaps 5 miles) with plenty of interesting coastline and fishing villages to the north west and the natural wonder, Bodmin Moor (home of the beast of Bodmin Moor) to the east. The roads are narrow, however.

Visit to Bude

There's a washing machine in this cottage and after a week we needed it so Sunday morning was washing day and Mary successfully charmed the device so that it did as it was bidden. No dryer, however, but it was a sunny day and there's a big clothes line out the back. With that chore dealt with we lunched on a bought quiche at home then headed in glorious sunny weather for Bude, as far north along this coast as we're likely to go.

Unlike the other seaside villages we've visited, car parking was possible right on the edge of the centre of Bude, a mere few minutes' stroll on flat ground to the beach. But it was busy as we struck the final day of the annual Food Festival in the best possible weather, and Sunday, of course. Firstly we fancied a stroll along the coast track to the south of the village and with map in hand, set off.

Right at the start of the walk we crossed the canal which runs through town.

Mary takes in the view. The cliff edge was on the immediate right.

We'd chosen a circular route so within less than an hour we were back in the town mixing with the crowds who were making the most of probably the last and warmest sunny day of a sunny summer.

There was a coarse fishing competition underway amidst the tourist bustle. This guy was Simon, who revealed that he also fishes from a kayak, launching from the local beach.

A surf kayaker coming back in to shore. There was a decent wave out there at the mouth of the bay.

The main beach.

The surf was OK.

Having spent about two and a half hours and £10 (incl two ice creams) in Bude we headed home as it was getting close to the time for a glass of red or two.

In the shared back garden we have this picnic table available and it gets used every evening as long as it's sunny. So far so good.

Village walk

Monday morning we arose about nine, had a simple and leisurely brekky at home and then headed out for a short local walk, as directed by a walks book left in the cottage. Again, a circular walk was chosen with a little bit of village and a fair bit of countryside. Again, a glorious day.

Celtic cross memorials lined up in the churchyard.

Mary crossing one of several stone stiles on this walk.

Our iPad compass (free App) was useful as we needed to be sure we were headed in the correct direction at track junctions with several options. All iPads (and iPhones) have a built-in magnetometer which works without Internet access.

A paved road section of the walk, but most of the way we were in copses or crossing open fields.

That's all for now.

Thanks for reading

Mary and I would appreciate your feedback and comment. Click here to email us.
Kev Long
Author iPad Traveller for iPad and Mac.


The technical stuff:
Our iPad is connecting to the Internet mainly through a cellular connection provided (prepaid) by the "3" network. On high ground and in town environments around Cornwall this connection is quite good but many places, especially in valleys and in small coastal localities lack coverage so no or poor connection. There are quite a few WiFi options available although not always advertised. Just ask if you're unsure if available. WiFi is of course the preferred method of transferring large amounts of data but I have been posting these blogs and their images using only a cellular connection either from inside our apartment where possible or on the roadside.

The cellular connection gives us both in car and on foot navigation capabilities which are essential around Cornwall, where mere printed maps struggle to provide sufficient detail at a manageable size.