So, Husband descends into Lydford Gorge and I make a slow ascent back to the National Trust cafe, where I have my sights set on a cup of tea in the tiny cafe. Since uphill slopes are a little easier than descents or flat, I get back up without too many problems, although I’d have liked a rest on a handy bench, which was occupied by a father and sons having a pic-nic lunch.

Back in the cafe, there are no empty tables but I get to sit with two very charming ladies and have a very lengthy chat- principally about health issues [we have a lot in common!] but ranging over many subjects. Like me, one of the ladies is waiting for her husband to return from the gorge and I welcome the company and the chat.

They’ve only just left when Husband turns up and hands me the camera, eulogising over the delights of the waterfall, [The ‘Whitelady’ Waterfall]. I cast an eye on the photos. Hmm…He’s taken some interesting videos of his feet on the path and various other confusing scenes. But he has got one or two snaps of the falls. I realise I should have given him a tutorial on the camera before he went. Although, it is very simple to operate. Turns out he was pressing the video button, thinking it was the shutter.

Lydford Gorge has two entrances. One for the waterfall and another for ‘Devil’s Cauldron’. We’re due to leave the site at Lydford but can go to the Devil’s Cauldron entrance on our way to our next stop. It’s early and the car park is mercifully free of vehicles, so we can park up, Husband can hike down to the bottom of what is the steepest gorge in the South West of the UK and I can stay put, have a read or something in the comfort and shade of the van. He knows better this time and returns, delighted with what he’s seen. It’s a more difficult walk that the waterfall and just as well I made no attempt this time.

Onwards, then, to Polzeath, a coastal village in North Cornwall, near Padstow, which has achieved some fame and popularity because of the celebrity chef, Rick Stein, who has a fish restaurant there. But we’ve stayed just outside Padstow before and it’s great to visit somewhere new. The site at Polzeath is a long, sloping strip, it’s lower end adjoining another site of chalets, which must be walked through before accessing the beach. The touring part of the site is a bit of an add-on but has the advantage of being at the lower end and therefore nearer to the beach access and the small town. A disadvantage is that the shower block is dated and strange and showers are not free- requiring a 50 pence coin in a meter. This seems unfair on top of the site fee [not cheap]. Another odd thing is that in the ‘ladies’, the coin slot meter is inside one of the cubicles, so that someone wishing to use the other shower would have to wait until the coin-slot shower was empty before they could use it! How odd!

But here we are…

Photos courtesy of Husband!

Novels by Jane Deans [Grace]: The Year of Familiar Strangers and The Conways at Earthsend. Visit my website: janedeans.com