Forts - Wednesday

Today we had a leisurely start to the day making our own cereal and toast breakfast - no eggs and bacon this morning. We didnt want a big drive today and thought we'd use our English Heritage Tourist Pass we bought before we hit Tintagel Castle, so headed to Pendennis Castle and Falmouth on the south coast.

Built by Henry VIII, it has been in nearly continuous use as a fort protecting Falmouth Harbour up until the 1950's - over 400 years! The site has a mix of buildings from Henry's original tower though to the Royal Artillery Baracks completed in 1901. Lots of others gave come and gone in the interim.

Just across the River Fal estuary sits St Mawes Castle, built across from Pendennis Castle at the same time to complete protection of the Harbour. We decided to see the pigeon pair. 

Had the day been nicer we would have taken the passenger ferry direct from Falmouth to St Mawes. But it was looking very grey, blowing hard and spitting rain (and I'd not brought my rain jacket because I was too lazy to climb back up to the flat to get it - and there was no rain forecast!!) so we decided to drive instead. So we headed around the estuary to St Mawes. To avoid a 30 mile drive we caught the King Harry Ferry,  a chain ferry, cutting 13 miles off the journey.

We toured the castle which was also quite intact and also interesting.

We had just decided to walk the grounds and stroll through the pretty village of St Mawes when the heavens opened (surprise!). So home we went, via Sainsburys to pick up some salmon fillets and veggies for Leanne to whip up a delicious dinner.