Retirement Life in the Week Ended 6 April 2025

Finally it’s been a very different week from others that I’ve written about for the past few months. My parents are now settled in their new home with proper care visits in place. There’s still quite a lot to do so get the house shipshape but we’re getting there. So we’ve been able to escape in Klaus the Knaus, our motorhome for a bit of well earned rest.

What I Celebrated

I turned sixty this week. Yikes where has the time gone? In order to mark the start of my seventh decade I’ve written a full-blown post. You can find it by following the link here. So this is what an old girl looks like on a beach down in Cornwall. Yes that’s where we ended up for five nights. There was no big party or fancy celebration just me, the old man, our van and the bikes on a quiet campsite. It was bliss.

Where We’ve Been

We’ve been exploring the Lizard Peninsula on our bikes from a beautiful little place called Silver Sands Holiday Park. It was just a stroll down a wooded valley to a beach. We can highly recommend it and will come again as there’s plenty more around here to discover on our bikes and on foot. The campsite is a ten minute walk from a little village called Kuggar. It’s attractions consist of a pub, a Thai takeaway van and a Londis shop. That’s pretty much it when it comes to excitement. My friend Richard, a proper urbanite from London, was horrified but we’re in our element.

Each day we went walking or been on our e-bikes. I chose this spot as I specifically wanted to explore the area on two wheels. We’ve visited the most Southerly point in England, Kynance Cove and the villages of Coverack and Cadgwith that, like our own town, are proper fishing ports, just much tinier.

On the main drag up from the campsite there’s the earth station. It played a major role in Artemis I the latest moon landing in 2024. Sadly the visitor’s centre hasn’t been open for some years. As a proper geeky woman I would have loved to visit. But I had to be content with the view from the road of Goonhilly and geese.

What We’ve Spotted

We’ve found serpentine on many of the beaches on the Lizard Peninsula. It’s a fascinating type of rock that has been pushed up from the Earth’s mantle and comes in a variety of colours. I thought I’d share a nerdy geological shot and a picture of a stone that’s has a heart imprint.

This stuff was prized by the Victorians for its decorative qualities and we came across a disused factory and waterwheel at Poltesco where the stone was processed and make into ornaments, fireplaces and gravestones. A few interesting pebbles fell in my pocket. I have a stone tumbling machine at home and I’m interested to see how they come out about they’ve been polished.

What I’ve Eaten

We have feasted well down in this part of Cornwall. It’s a place where the quality of the food and drink is excellent. We’ve had a Thai takeout from a van, fish and chips and variations thereof and of course more than a pint or two of Cornish ale and Korev lager.

I must mention the milk from the Treleague Dairy shop that came in proper glass bottles and was so much more flavoursome than anything we normally buy from the supermarket. However the star of the show has to be the Cheese Pasty from Ann’s Pasties, the sublime-est pastry snack I’ve ever eaten filled with potato, turnip, cheese and masses of the sweetest caramelised onions known to man. You can order online for UK delivery. Go on I know you want to!

What I Watched

We had a great movie night in the van watching the 2002 movie ‘Catch Me if You Can’ starring Leonardo diCaprio and Tom Hanks. I’m surprised that I missed it the first time around. This wonderful film, that’s highly regarded by Rotten Tomatoes, is about the fraudster Frank Abagnale who was so good at his art he ended up becoming a security consultant helping people prevent the crimes that he himself was accused of.

What I’ve Been Gifted

At my request my son Louis and his girlfriend bought me, a beautiful book, Cut and Paste: 400 Years of Collage. I’ve also been collecting all sort of interesting scraps of card, paper and other materials for the last few month. So I’ve really got no excuse at all now not to try this art form of my own.

Disclaimer

This post contains links to companies and organisations just because I’m happy with the products or services that they supply or I’m spreading the word about what they do. There may also be affiliate links to Amazon for books and other items that I am personally recommending. If you decide to make a purchase from them, I might get a little bit of commission at no cost to you.