  Day 2 & 3 – Torquay, Minack Theater & Lands End Our plan had been to take both the car & bike as far as Exmouth and then leave the car for 5 days and travel the bottom tip of the UK by motorcycle; meaning we could carry only a few days clothes on the bike but avoid having to ever wash clothes by leaving backups in the car. However the weather for the following week looked disastrous so we instead parked the bike in a hotel’s secure parking and continued on with just the car, despite my trying to sell a few days riding in the rain as ‘adventurous’. We stopped for the night in Torquay, which we are (as of writing…were) planned to come back to for a week at the end of these trips (in lieu of not being able to get to a Greek Island without 2 weeks quarantine). Unfortunately the hotel we stayed at was quite expensive (was supposed to be a ‘splurge’) and very old / run down / desperately in need of maintenance and fresh paint – plus one of the few hotels where breakfast wasn’t included, additionally the town itself was pretty disappointing too – so not only no photos, but we decided to cancel the additional week at the end of the trip! https://www.theimperialtorquay.co.uk/ £200 for the night excluding breakfast (we went to a local café instead) On the way into Torquay however we did see all the cruise liners parked up awaiting Covid to be over!  Next day we headed out and continued our roadtrip along the southern UK coastline – expecting to see some excellent beaches! Here’s St Michael’s Mount in the distance, we hopped out of the car in our typical beach attire to grab a coffee!   Next stop on the way south was the Minack Theater – this outdoor auditorium was handmade by a local resident and her friends, carting sand up from the beach to make cement seats and walkways and is now maintained as part of a local trust. They put on shows during the summertime with local theatre companies each being allocated a week to perform, we unfortunately were not able to get seats for the night show, but caught some of the rehearsal! And I’d wholeheartedly recommend the scones with Jam & Cream which I had in place of lunch! https://www.minack.com/  All of the inscriptions and decorations are hand drawn as the cement dries!  The views from the theatre walkways were stunning!  And then on to our rest stop for the night – Land’s End Hotel. During the day there is a small hut with a man who charges for photos – but at night he shuts up shop so we managed to get a free photo! Or a very expensive photo given we paid to stay the night…   We’d arrived at the same time as a group of motorcyclists who had been through the same storms we had enjoyed from the warmth of the car – they squelched through reception in front of us!  The hotel had called us earlier to advise that due to staff shortages they wouldn’t be able to run a dinner service – so we’d brought some wraps from our lunch stop and ate them in the hotel room. Thankfully they were still able to serve drinks so we had a celebratory beverage or two and settled in for the night – at the bottom tip of the UK! https://www.landsendhotel.co.uk/penwith-studios/ £157 for the night in the 4 Star Studios – free parking & free breakfast 
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |