Weekend in Cornwall, Part 3

Sorry about the lag in blogging. I started classes this week and have been spending lots of time with my hallmates, so the week just flew by. I guess I'll continue with Cornwall...

After leaving St. Ives, we arrived back in Newquay faced with an evening alllll to ourselves. Sweet freedom! The top priority for most of us was to get down to the beaches, and so we set off: Laura, Danielle, Kelly, Dan and I. We climbed down the many stairs to sea level, where we took off our shoes (and in my case socks, because I'd brought nothing but boots for the weekend), rolled up our pant legs, and set off across the chilly sand. It was a long walk down to the water level; the tides here must be extraordinary, because in St. Ives and in Newqay the beaches are quite long, but still wet close to the road. I'd love to see high tide! My skin's first encounter with the other side of the Atlantic was a bit of a shock, as the water was a bit chillier than I'm used to at home. Still, it felt sooo good to wiggle my toes around in the sand and feel the water glide back and forth across my feet, sucking at my ankles. The coldness of the water was easier to ignore with time, but I still could not believe it when I spotted other BCA students actually swimming in their bikinis and swim shorts. Seriously? I'm rather sad I missed out on the opportunity, admittedly. Still, we had our own fun...

From across the beach we could see a cave, which Dan had spied from atop the cliff earlier and coined the lair of "manbearpig." Kelly, Dan and I were determined to reach this cave ,and so our adventure began. At first, Laura and Danielle came along, and we all stopped for a photoshoot atop some rocks we scaled. But as we moved down the beach and the water got deeper in places, Laura and Danielle decided they weren't going to come because they didn't feel safe. Kelly, Dan and I ventured on. We walked across the sunny beach and discovered, by accident, our first cave. Rounding an outcropping of rock, we discovered a very unique area. We found the remains of someone's homemade swimming pool, where they had constructed a concrete and stone wall to keep in the water that flowed in during high tide. There was a hole in this wall now, and we also found a set of stone steps set into the cliffside that would've been used to dive from at high tide. How amazing! 

Dan apparently decided that here was just as good a location for "manbearpig's" cave, and so we stopped to take a photo of him impersonating the vicious beast.

It was here that I got a phonecall from our somewhat hysterical chaperone and BCA coordinator, Denise.

"Aidan! Are you on dry land?"

"What? Yeah, we're on the beach!"

"You're not in the cave?"

Apparently our friends on the cliff were afraid of the tides and quite convinced that Kelly, Dan and I would drown. When I convinced Denise that we were NOT floating facedown in the caves and assured her that we would be careful, I relayed the story to my companions, and we moved on across the sands.

We found another interesting cliffside area, where we stopped to take photos of Gollum's cave! (We are complete and utter dorks). Finally, we reached the lair of "manbearpig." We actually found it to be quite beautiful, but the least exciting of the other caves and cliffs we'd discovered. This was the first real cave, being that it completely covered our heads, and we enjoyed watching the sun make its magnetic progress toward the horizon. Dan also attempted to teach Kelly and I each to waltz in the waves, which was a lot harder than it sounds but made for some lovely photos. We enjoyed the water, sun and sand for a while, until a freak wave came along and actually entered the cave. 

It was then that was gathered up our belongings and ran from the cave (Dan shouting "Shitshitshit!' the whole way), toward where we knew the waves wouldn't get us. During this time, I got a phone call from Sandy, our other chaperone. Apparently our dear but paranoid friends were still concerned for us, and now had Sandy standing cliffside near her hotel, watching out for us. She watched us progress up the beach and then demanded to know where we were going next. I explained that we couldn't get back across to our beach because the tide had come in and would be taking the road. Goodness, what an adventure. 

While our somewhat peeved other friends went off to dinner alone, Kelly, Dan and I met up with other BCA'ers and went in search of our own sustenance. We ended up at a fish n'chips shack, where Kelly, Dan and I ordered the crispy battered cod and yummy chips. Our friends had already progressed to the beach, and so we ate our Cornish sea fare cliffside, observing their adventures on the beach as the sun went down fully. 

We did quite a lot in a day, I must say.