There were two things about today. Firstly the extraordinary queue of traffic leading up to Stonehenge. Now, obviously, there’s always a queue of traffic leading up to Stonehenge. It’s one of the things of British traffic legend, caused by the merging of two lanes into one. This could easily be solved. Not by increasing the length of road that has two lanes but by removing the second lane altogether.
Anyway, it went for a very long way today as we crawled our gradual way down to Cornwall. And, sure enough, as soon as the second lane reappeared just beyond Stonehenge, the traffic started moving again. It always starts a holiday off on the wrong foot but, seasoned travellers down to the south west as we are, we didn’t let it put us off.
It did rather scupper my plan to stop halfway for a cup of tea at the town of Shute. Mirinda declared she was ready for a stop at the small village of Fontwell Bishop. Outside the lovely All Saints church, we unpacked tea, coffee, hot water, ham sandwiches and custard tarts. The tea and coffee then went back because I’d forgotten the milk.
This was not as disastrous as it could have been because, while Fontwell Bishop doesn’t have much in the way of anything (apart from a church and three pigs), it does have a restaurant that happily doubles as a tea room.
All Saints, Fonthill Bishop
So, lattes and tea later, we headed back to the car and continued along the road to Cornwall.
Eventually, and thanks to Linda who did a sterling job, we found the village of Mylor Bridge and the gradually narrowing lane to the Creekside Cottage, Rackley. And now I come to the second thing: the view from Rackley is extraordinary. The diffused light of the setting sun helped it look perfect. However, the fact that it is right on the edge of the creek, is just the perfect icing on the cake. Boats and more boats are just sitting there. A forest of masts out in Mylor Harbour and randomly dotted anchored motor boats just outside the cottage.
And to cap it all off, just before bed, someone decided to give us a truly warm welcome with a display of fireworks from just across the water. How friendly and delightful. Rackley could be the best holiday cottage we’ve ever stayed in.
View from Rackley
