Higher Harlyn near Padstow 12-14th July

A photo of the sunset taken from our pitch at St Merryn on Saturday night.

We moved on to St Merryn on the Saturday morning. We had decided to stay at the C&CC holiday site next door to Higher Harlyn Holiday Park. Sarah and Jon were a bit concerned about the lack of electricity on the holiday site so when we arrived we asked how much it was to stay in the proper site with electric. £28 a night. We were shocked. £28 a night to camp, and that was before the schools broke up. There's no doubt the main site was a nice field with a nice view but the showers/loos weren't as good as cheaper places we have been. So we followed through our plans and drove through the site to the rally field and booked in with the stewards from the Birmingham District Association. £12 a night with the use of all the facilities at Higher Harlyn. Fantastic. We were greeted by 2 brummie pensioners who brewed up while we filled in our booking forms. Lovely people.

After we got settled we jumped on a bus and went into Padstow. Gordon and I headed across the fields from the campsite to the bus stop. We didn't have to wait long until the little green bus turned up. Unfortunately Sarah and Jon just missed it, and we saw them as we sped past. We met up an hour or two later and went to Rick Stein's for fish and chips. Gordon and I had plaice and chips and a scallop each. Last year they were absolutely fabulous. This year they were the greasiest chips we had ever been served. The fish was lovely but even the scallop was swimming in fat. It comes served in a shell and there was a puddle of oil in there too. What a disapointment. We couldn't believe the difference in standard to our previous visit. Sort it out Rick please.



We headed back into the town centre for a mooch round. And I managed to take a tumble on the quayside. HOW EMBARRASSING. I grazed my knee and gave everyone a good laugh! No alcohol was involved either (honest guv). Ah well I survived even though I hobbled around for the next few days.



Gordon and I headed over to the club bar in the evening and we were impressed by the surroundings and the live music. Lovely. Best of all we heard the weather forecast for Sunday. A proper sunny day.

The beautiful Harlyn Bay beach - and blue skies :-)

After breakfast we made a picnic and headed down to Harlyn Bay which was about a 15 minute walk away. This was great for Gordon as he had had many happy holidays there with his parents when he was little. He said it looked exactly the same. And the weather report was correct - it was actually hot!

One of the funniest things of the day was that we discovered that Sam didn't like walking on sand. We had to build a path for him with beach mats so he could move about. Mind you, it meant you could plonk him on a mat and he was trapped. For once you didn't have to keep playing the chase me chase me game.

At the beach we met a new monster man - called NODROG.

At the end of the afternoon we went over to the Harlyn Inn for a few drinks and to listen to the entertainment, 2 guys on guitars who were very good and gave us a laugh with their banter.