Road Trip Part 3 - Newquay, Watergate Bay, Padstow

At Newquay, we had booked into The Great Western Hotel. It's got a grand name and a lovely location on a cliff right next to the beach, but in need of refurbishment. It is quite old, I'm talking about the decor and most of the clientelle!!

It wasn't until after we had decided to go to Newquay that I found out that the Run to the Sun weekend was being held there. Still we persevered and got there to find the place full of people (mostly young but some old). I don't think we were near the concert venues, but people were walking up and down the high street, some in fancy dress, some hardly dressed, probably going to one club or another. We walked down the high street looking for somewhere nice to have dinner, but in the end, we settled for Cornish pasties and Cornish cream tea on the go!! That met a couple of my objectives for visiting Cornwall - pasties and clotted cream tea!

We sat on some benches facing the sea and ate our "meal". We noticed a house that was built on an island, connected to the mainland by a suspension bridge. We though that the house on the island was an annex to the house on the mainland, but we later found out that they did not belong to the same people. The house on the island belongs to Lord and Lady Long, and is called The House in The Sea, and you can actually stay there... if only we had known before!

The Sunday morning was wet. After breakfast we went down to the beach, but had to turn back shortly because it started raining, quite heavily. So instead we went shopping for Cornish goodies, like clotted cream cookies, jams (including the sugar-free variety) and then got back on the road.

Taking the coastal road towards Padstow, we passed Watergate Bay, where we stopped and hoped to have coffee at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen Cornwall. However we missed breakfast and was too early for lunch. At least we got to go in there and had a look round - very bright pink and had a good view of the beach. You can see into the kitchen from the dining area. Well, we've been there at least. Despite the rain, many people were surfing - I guess you get wet surfing so what does a little rain matter?

Next stop - Padstow. I heard it was a nice place, and more importantly, everyone who comes to Cornwall goes there to eat at one of Rick Stein's seafood restaurants. I did consider booking in advance - fully booked, so we went to Rick Stein's cafe (where they do not have a booking policy) for lunch. The food was actually quite good... I had soup and devilled mackarel with salad - the fish had a milky taste/texture... just cooked to perfection. After lunch we walked around the little town, and then headed back to Rick Stein's Deli, near where our car is parked. It was raining so much that despite carrying a huge umbrella, my jeans got wet up to my thighs! At the Deli, we bought some posh Cornish pasties to take home (including ones with crab filling!)

No photos taken on Sunday - too wet!!