Cornish cure for backache and other discoveries

A trip to Cornwall is always rejuvenating, especially for Jonathan who spent every childhood summer holiday there staying with his maternal grandmother in the village of Pendeen not far from the famous Cornish landmark, Lands End. 

For him, it is like going home and for me it is a beautiful, relaxing and intriguing place to visit. 

Our trips to England are always busy and although we have made the trip over from Europe several times in the past year, we hadn’t squeezed in a trip to Cornwall until this visit. 

Our first stop was near Falmouth where we caught up with Jonathan’s cousin Sue in Mylor Bridge and a very old friend Mike who lives nearby. 

We had a great catch up with Mike on our first evening and the following day we dropped into to see Sue. 

After a lovely fish and chip lunch overlooking Mylor Yacht Harbour we went for a stroll around the water’s edge and as always, enjoyed being around boats again. 

Later we went back to Sue’s and spent a happy (and nostalgic for Jonathan) hour trawling through the many family photos that Sue has stored carefully over the years. 

After another evening with Mike, swapping stories and catching up on everything that had happened since we last met, we were off to Jonathan’s old stomping grounds. 

We returned to stay at the St Just rugby club, a quiet location just a stroll away from the Kenidjack Valley. 

We always love a walk through this stunning deep valley, and often imagine how polluted and noisy it would have been back in the day when it was being mined for tin. 

All that remains of these works now are the ghostly mine buildings dotted here and there throughout the valley. 

One place we always visit while in Cornwall is Pendeen Church where many of Jonathan’s forebears are buried – including his Mum and Dad and his grandparents. 

Another thing we always do is to buy Cornish pasties for lunch on one of the days we are there. Sadly the famed pasties from the original Warrens Bakery in St Just were very disappointing.  

Warrens are Britain’s oldest Cornish pasty makers (established in St Just in 1860) and there are 40 Warrens retailers throughout Cornwall (and a couple in South Wales).  Sad to say their pasties don’t taste like they used to!!

The far west of Cornwall is full of mystical menhirs, monoliths, stone circles and other prehistoric sites and of course, Jonathan has visited many of them multiple times during his youth. 

Every time we go to Cornwall we try to visit a new (to me) site and this time it was one called  Mên-an-tol. Also known by locals as the Crick Stone, it is believed to be around 3,500 years old. 

Measuring approximately 1.3 metres across with a large hole at its centre, the Mên-an-Tol has had many a curative and magical powers attributed to it, including curing back pain. 

As Jonathan has had a bad back for some considerable time now, he decided to give it a try. Sad to say, it doesn’t seem to have made a huge difference to “the crick” in his back. It was fun seeing him wiggle through the hole in the stone though!

On the day we were leaving Cornwall we drove to Pendeen Lighthouse so that Jonathan could revisit the beach he spent so many happy hours on as a child, Portheras. 

If you have read the Salt Path by Raynor Wynn you might remember the prologue starts with the couple that have been walking the South West Coast path of the UK waking up to find their tent was about to be inundated by the wild Atlantic Sea?  Well that was at Portheras!

Our quick trip to Cornwall was over and it was time to make our way to Dover to get back to The Netherlands to spend more precious time with our daughter Hannah and her husband Pieter and their beautiful baby. 

We broke the journey in Portsmouth – and stayed the night in a free car park near the yacht marina and close to the Navy’s training base HMS Excellent. 

The next morning we were on our way to Sovereign Harbour in Eastbourne where we were meeting one of my nephews, and his wife and family. 

As always, it was so good to see them again and especially lovely to see how the children had changed and what delightful little humans they are growing up to be!