Short take: goodbyes, hellos, and Trelissick Garden.
We returned from our walk to Saint Just in Roseland yesterday evening to find that Rochelle had arrived. A friend of ours from Pittsburgh, she was the first of our American contingent, the others being Russell and Sally, who arrived just before dinner, and Rochelle's husband Marcus, who will join us in Portwrinkle in a week's time.
Despite, or perhaps because of, jet lag, all three were in fine form and there was much laughter around the dinner table. One of the nice things about this sort of hike is the shifting constellations of people as some come, others go, and all get to know one another. It is a pleasure to observe and participate in.
The following morning we said goodbye to Franz and Ingrid, old friends, indefatigable hikers, level-headed in all situations, and the one a superb player of games, the other a conversationalist who can approach Lidia-esque levels of variety and stamina ;-). They'll be missed!
Then we went out to catch the 10:15 ferry to Trelissick. Or tried to... unsuccessfully: it had been cancelled. So we called the water taxi, an inflatable Zodiac with an impressive looking outboard and 4 double motorcycle-like seats, put on life jackets, and took off... at times almost literally. The wind had been blowing all night, and even in the protected waters of the Carrick Roads the waves were at times 3 feet high, so at high speed it was exhilarating. What the ferry would have done in 30 minutes we did in perhaps 10.
Trelissick Garden was delightful. More for its trees than its plants, although the latter included some more azalea explosions and amazing rhododendrons. But it was the former, and in particular a huge Cryptomeria Japonica in the middle of the main lawn that impressed the most. And the location, on a pensinula with the Fal River on one side and a flooded valley on the other was also dramatic.
The Fal River and the Carrick Roads are, like the Helford River described on Day 6, not really a river but instead a ria -- a flooded valley system. As a result the river and side "creeks" are much deeper than you would expect when looking at their width. Because of this they have been much used as a place to park big ships, and this is still done at times today. It is a strange experience to come around a corner of a woodland path and see through the trees a short distance away in a small channel a massive vessel... and we were fortunate that one was anchored in the Fal just off of Trewithen.
Afterwards we took the ferry back to St. Mawes, greeted our next new arrivals, Aline & Jakob, friends of ours from Munich, played an inaugural round of Royalty (Russ, Sally, Rochelle and I), and had an excellent dinner at the Watch House restaurant in the village. Then it was off to bed with admonitions to all and sundry to be up on time in the morning, ready for our 6.5 hour hike to Portloe.
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