On Thursday morning we found a café in Penzance with free WiFi and caught up with emails, etc. We learned that one of our credit cards that we’d left on the boat has been used and we had to speak at length to the credit card company. The broader implication is concerning as it’s likely someone has been aboard our boat. I fired off an email to the boat yard just in case but we won’t really know the full implication of this until we return. Bummer.
After a lunch of pasties we headed off for more walking. This time we walked inland taking in a number of old and ancient sites. The first site was an old baptistery not too far from Penzance.
Next we were back in the car and off to “Lanyon Quoit” a burial memorial looking much like a stone table.
Third stop was for the length hike where we first walked across the moor to an abandoned mine called “Ding Dong.” Along the way we came to some standing stones called “Men-an-tol”. They looked like the number 101. Apparently you are supposed to pass ailing children through the circular stones and their ills will be cured. We didn’t have any ailing children with us but Lois was able to plant part of her anatomy through the hole. Although we’d missed the summer peak, we 
were still treated to the yellows and purples of the heather.
After “Ding Dong” we headed towards “nine maidens” a group of standing stones. Someone appeared to have traced some sort of magic circle in the ground perhaps hoping the ancient nature of the site contained some mystical influence. We found a dead mouse by a stone. An offering perhaps? Somehow I doubt it.
We continued on to a crag.
On the way we encountered an old barrow. Robin and I examined this but Helen and Lois carried on. To catch up Robin and I took a short cut across the heather. It looked like a reasonably decent path but it turned out quite scratchy. Robin had long trousers on but I didn’t which made things worse for me.
Continuing in this vein Robin and I took a further shortcut to the top of the crag while Helen and Lois took the longer route. While we received plenty more scratches we were rewarded with a great view from the top. We eventually joined Lois and Helen further along the crag.
Back in Penzance we settled down for the evening. Peter joined us for an hour or two. After he left we ate fresh mackerel superbly cooked by Robin.
This morning Helen and I went on our own to St Ives. We decided to take the bus for a change.
On arrival we walked down to the water front from the bus station and slowly made our way around to the fishing pier / breakwater. St Ives is a very picturesque fishing village now very much a center of tourism. All the same it is quite quaint and makes for a great day trip.
The protected waters of the harbor are home to plenty of small fishing boats. When we were on the pier we noticed the harbor was also home to two large seals each probably weighing as much as Helen and I put together – even after all the food we’ve been eating recently.
Lois had lent us her pass to the Tate art gallery so we visited there. There were five galleries of showing five different artists. Some interesting, some rubbish (I thought – but then I’m a bit of a philistine when it comes to art).
After the gallery it was back to the water front for lunch where we picked up some local baked food and had an ice cream each. Then we walked around some more to battle the pounds down. By now the town was quite busy with typical English tourists and holiday makers.
We finished off our trip with a visit to the St Ives museum. They had so many exhibits it was almost too much. I quite liked the various handmade models of old sailing ships.
Tonight is our last evening all together in Cornwall. Lois and Robin are leaving tomorrow morning. They will soon be off to Thailand and Burma for six months helping out there. We’ll be heading back to Chesham tomorrow too. Hopefully we’ll be able to drop in on Helen’s cousin Liz on the way who has not been too well of late.
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