Padstow ~ McC Ab Test

Had an outing today to Padstow, to the north of our new base in Newquay. First stop was the "Bedruthan Steps" which are basically very big rocks sitting along the coast. The winds were galeforce and the rain bucketed down periodically, causing some minor flooding on the roads. When we pulled into the carpark there was a man braving the awful conditions to collect our parking money. We staggered along the clifftop path, leaning into the wind, and found the steep steps down to the beach below. We were likely to be cut off by the rising tide so did not venture along the beach.

Sue battling to stand up in the wind along the clifftop.

Those big rock-bergs are the "Bedruthan Steps".

Brian wrapped up against the blizzard.

When we returned to our car the tearoom there had opened, so we had a cheerful cup of coffee there while we sheltered from the conditions, along with quite a few other people who had appeared.

We pressed on to Padstow, which we've only heard of because of the TV chef Rick Stein, who does combined travel / culinary TV series through interesting countries like India, or Spain, etc. In Padstow we saw the Stein Fish and Chip shop, some Stein restaurants, and the Stein patisserie. Apparently some of the locals are bit fed up with the way their town has become "Stein-ville".

In Padstow it kept raining, but we resolutely explored it anyway, getting drenched from the legs down. We had a nice soup lunch in a pub, and walked around the harbour. Like many ports in this part of the world, they have a boat harbour with a big gate which keeps the water inside when the tide drains the harbour outside. We were there when they opened the gate at Padstow, which surprisingly involved the whole gate folding down onto the seabed, completely disappearing beneath the water.