Greg mapped out the route to the Eden Project at St Austell and we headed off. As has happened on many occasions, we are driving along and he suddenly starts exclaiming "OMG!!". The first few times I thought something was wrong, but now I know it just means there's an old railway line around here! This usually means finding somewhere stop and/or turn around, not always easy on the narrow roads but he manages.
The first railway stop today was at Dunmere which is now part of the Camel trail (bike and walking trail along the Camel river along the old trainline). The old platform is still there and we could see some old tracks still across the road but there was nowhere to stop for a photo. We checked the map again and found we were close to another old line that he had pictures of from a train magazine so off we went again down even narrower laneways and through villages of just a pub and a few houses. At Hellandbridge he was able to find where the line went through the town between the old houses and we 'recreated' the picture from the magazine. The small stone bridge over the river at Hellandbrridge was a tight squeeze. It has pockets on either side in the middle so anyone crossing when a car is on the bridge can escape.
Nearby I took a photo across the fields of yellow canola (i'm guessing). In one direction you could see the church spire in the distance and in the other it was a line of wind turbines.
On to The Eden Project. It is FABULOUS! It is an environmental educational, arts centre build on an old china clay pit. There are a number of biomes (domes) that recreate and study the climate in different regions. Inside the biomes they grow crops from countries that have that climate and illustrate the history and life of people in some of those countries. Outside there are different kinds of gardens including flowers, crops, kitchen, allotment. There are sculptures throughout the site. I attended a storytelling session in the Mediterranean biome and climbed up to the roof f the rainforest biome where it was 40 degrees. I took heaps of photos with ideas that could be used at the Wetlands (if we had the money). I've never been anywhere with such great facilities for visitors - heaps of little and big cafes and plenty of toilets.
We came home via Newquay which seemed to be caught in a time-warp of a classic 1950s typical English seaside town, straight out of any/every period film or television program. It was almost too stereotyped to be real.
Then along the coast road back to Padstow there was evidence of more modern development of houses and units around some of the surfiing beaches in the area.
(Memo from Greg to brother : our travels today took us through places like Newquay, Truro, Redruth ..... I fully expected to see posters for a Tommy Gander performance. Couldn't find anywhere called Falvale, though ......)
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