Sunday 7 September 2014

Leo Visit's Land's End


At the end of August the entire family packed up there bags and traveled to the Cornwall for a weeks break. Our week was spent in a holiday cottage at Sennen Cove, one of the last little villages in Cornwall before you reach Land's End. 

Leo had been so excited in the weeks running up to the week away, dreams of days spent at the beach and day trips out and about filled his head, and for the most part of the 6 hour drive he was surprisingly well behaved.. If you could ignore the constant 'I want to go to the beach' the entire time..

Our first full day was spent down by the beach, and the walk to the coast was actually a little further than any of us could of anticipated. Having had the car so full of everybody's bags, we had had to sacrifice the pushchair for this trip, which meant that Leo used the line 'But my feet hurt' more than we would care to remember..And it also meant that Leo was carried in each instance that he decided to sit down and refuse to walk another step.



The walk to the coast saw us walking through fields and avoiding cow pats, it saw kissing gates and stiles, all new experiences for my beautiful little man. When we eventually arrived at the beach, the walk seemed very much worth it, and those tired little legs that Leo had been plaguing Leo only moments before had been forgotten as soon as he had seen the sea.

Leo didn't care that there was a chill in the air, and within moments of arriving at the beach he was running in and out of the waves having the absolute time of his life.


With the beach out of Leo's system for a day or so at least we decided to visit the Cornwall Seal Sanctuary. This is a place I have visited a few times over the years, the last time when I was still at school. It must have been well over 10 years since our last visit, and now here I was bringing Leo along for his first visit. 

It was a rainy day and we arrived in our wellies and coats ready for a soaking, and as we arrived the rain went away and we began to peal off the layers as the sun tried to break through. Leo lead the way around the sanctuary and marveled at the Seals and Sea lions as he went.


All was going well until Leo had a little accident, and by accident I mean deliberately wet himself. Of course as Leo has been so good with his potty training, of late I haven't been taking spare clothes with me on each outing. So I had to quickly strip him off and dress him in the rain poncho.. Suffice to say he looked rather comical running around in very little...


We took the obligatory walk to Land's End and had a look around the attraction. Leo gave me many a heart attack as he wondered around and I saw just how little barrier enforcement that there was between the land and the shoreline below the cliffs!




Towards the end of our week away we visited St Michaels Mount, and Leo did especially well climbing the majority of the way to the top. I had casually slipped in that it was Mike The Knights house, and we may just see him if we took a trip to the top. Unfortunately Mike was away on a mission during our visit, but Leo had the best time climbing the steps and pretending to shoot the cannons.


You can see from the below image the walk that was on our hands, and with two toddlers kicking sand in their wake, we knew it was going to take a while. To visit St Michael's Mount you either walk to it while the tide is out, or take a boat. Leo was all for taking the boat, but we visited during a time when the tide was out, and followed the cobbled path all the way up.

Leo climbed steps and did amazingly well on his latest adventure, and only wanted carrying when the steps turned into slippery slopes and he couldn't quite keep his footing in his size 10 wellies, that were still that little bit too big for him.




With true British weather on our side, it was inevitable that we would encounter some rain. And when I say some rain, I mean that the skies opened up on us and didn't relent until we couldn't be any wetter than we were. At first Leo thought it was amazing, he ran, splashed in puddles and had a fantastic time, until of course it wasn't fun any more. We walked as fast as we could back down the tidal cobbles, but it was too late. We were all completely and utterly soaked, cold and feeling a little worse for wear.

There were so many memorable moments to our a week away, it saw Leo having a fantastic time and he seemed to just grow before our eyes. The week gave him lot's of opportunities to use his words and by the time we got back he seemed to have come on in leaps and bounds.

A particular highlight of the week had to be Leo's pronunciation of chicken chunks... Apparently chunks is a word that could be completely misinterpreted as a rather naughty word that he most certainly doesn't know. But having said that, I couldn't help crying with laughter when Leo strolled back into the kitchen after refusing to eat his chicken chunks and chips... and demanded to know 'Where are my Chicken Chunks!?' - Little did he know that naughty Mummy had gobbled them all up...

Now here we are in September, the schools have gone back and the Summer is soon to be a distant memory. But what lovely memories we have created.





2 comments:

  1. Aww sounds like you had a fab time! We are going to Cornwall next year, cant wait to explore. St Michaels mount is on our list! X

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    Replies
    1. Thanks lovely, it was a super week. You will enjoy St Michaels Mount :D x

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