A cheap holiday in Cornwall – Lots of Pictures including Puffins/sharks/me

A cheap holiday in Cornwall

I had a rare four-day gap in the diary with no work meetings, football and it was half term. So, I booked in a speedy trip to Penzance to stay with my sister for three nights.

I am from Penzance, lived there until I was 18. I ran as fast as I could and left for university in London at 18 and never returned, apart from holidays. Why did I run? My parents dying had a huge impact on that decision.

I have always gone back normally once or twice a year to go back to my routes, to visit the beaches I loved as a child, to visit my parents grave and to spend time with my friends I grew up with and my sister.

Four days also included a 320-mile drive to Penzance and back again, so the real holiday time was just 72 hours. And we packed in tons. Exciting for me was some firsts, we did things I have never done before.

It was super cheap as we had free accomodation at my sisters, we spent around £80 on fuel (Hybrid Toyota CHR is very economic). And then a further £250 on food, parking, gifts, boat trips whilst we were there.

Arrival at Marazion Beach

We arrived at 6pm on Sunday and stopped at Marazion beach in front of St. Michael’s Mount to dip our feet in the sea. Mounts Bay was a pond for the entire 72 hours we were there. The boys enjoyed a bit of beach football and I did a quick Facebook Live in front of St. Michael’s Mount. If you have never been you have to visit. You can walk over when the tide is out along the causeway. But watch out for those tides!

Monday was out first full day and it was sunny. We headed out early to Sennon beach, meeting Sophie who was my best buddy during those impressionable teenage years. We joined families up and had a glorious 5 hours on the beach together. It was so good to catch up on life with no time pressure. We talked through the past 20 years, talked a lot about our teenage years. We talked about the day my mum dies which was strange as I didn’t remember what I did that day.

Our kids had a great time playing on the beach together. I took Sophies little girl swimming in the freezing Atlantic. The boys went out surfing on their boogie boards. We had a picnic on the beach as made by my sister. The sun was blazing down from 2pm to 5pm I didn’t want to leave. But Jacks moaning wanting ice-cream got too much.

We headed to Jelberts in Newlyn for the best ice-cream and clotted cream in the world. Yes, you get a big dollop of clotted cream on top of your vanilla ice-cream.

We were tucked up in bed by 9pm, tired out from a day of full on activity.

Pool Day and Boat Trip

Tuesday was cooler, but I was keen to explore the Penzance jubilee pool that has just reopened a few days earlier. This pool was where I spent much of my youth with my friends, it was destroyed a few years ago in the winter storms and has just been rebuilt.

We had breakfast and lunch there, the best sausage roll I have ever tastes from the café. We swam lots and chilled. Dylan did a ninja warrior inflatable assault course. Mid-afternoon we left to go a wildlife boat trip.

I have wanted to go on boat trip to Mounts bay searching for dolphins for around 30 years, but for some reason never did it. Well this time I did it. We booked a 2-hour wildlife tour with Mermaid cruises. It cost £49 for the four of us, 1 adult and 3 children. Not cheap, but not mega expensive. It cost more to go to the London Aquarium even with 50% off vouchers!

We powered over to St. Michael’s mount and whizzed around it. The skipper pulled up a lobster pot and it had a shark in it. A real-life shark was brought onto the boat and everyone got to stroke it. It wasn’t happy and kept snapping at people, I screamed when it went for Josh😉. We then headed far out to search for dolphins, sadly we didn’t find any…. BUT we did see three puffins. I have never seen a real-life puffin in my life. Bucket list moment ticked off. We headed back to the harbour via Lamorna, Mousehole and Newlyn. We saw lots of birds, gannets, cormorants, guillemots, gulls. It was great.

We grabbed fish and chips for dinner, and again was tucked up in bed by 9pm tired out.

Run, Swim, Pirate lunch and Porthcurno

Wednesday was our last day and it was a bit rainy. Josh and I were up with the birds so went out for run at 7am. We ran from Heamoor to the promenade in Penzance, a nice downhill 1.5-mile run. When we got to the beach I stripped off and went for a swim. It was drizzly, but muggy so the sea was a nice temperature. Josh would only go in up to his knees. We then ran across the prom to the bathing pool and explored battery rocks. A place I used to hang out as a teenager drinking and smoking.

We wondered into town grabbing a coffee and water on route and walked back to Heamoor. I dashed into town for a quick coffee with Podcast expert Pete Matthew of Meaningful Money who lives up the road from my sister. Bizarre the coincidence. And he is a lovely man, giving of time, encouragement and advice, likewise I did the same for him. A clever man doing such good in the world.

By 11am, it was piddling down. We packed quickly, grabbed Dylan and Jack and headed back into town for some lunch before leaving Cornwall. We went to an actual pirate restaurant with milkshakes, burgers and ribs. Not the healthiest, but the boys loved it. Along with the pirates and sharks.

I also got a chance to have a good look around the most amazing crystal shop on Causeway head and got myself a beautiful piece of amethyst. The rain cleared briefly, and the boys wanted one last trip to the beach, so we headed to Porthcurno, my favourite beach in the entire world. A magical place where amazing things can happen. Especially when its drizzly and no one is there. It was as stunning as ever and despite the weather the boys decided to go for a swim. I sat on a rock at the edge of the beach and watched the waves roll in. It was beautiful.

By then it was 3pm, a brief stop at Polgoon to get some cider and fudge and we on our way back home. The longest journey ever broken up with stop over at my step-mothers in Taunton. It was a peaceful, fun, calm trip which we all enjoyed. Apart from the long drive to get there and back again.

Maybe next time we will get the train, but then you don’t have a car when you are there, and you need a car to get Sennon and Porthcurno.

Cornwall is such a fab place to go for a holiday as you can see from the pictures, paradise.

In no way is this sponsored as Penzance is home:-)