Short take: more sightseeing.
As expected, Friday arrived with weather different from that forecast on Thursday night: although not very warm, there was a mixture of sun and clouds rather than the predicted rain. So, after bidding adieu to the somewhat rapacious landlady at the Chelsea Hotel, we walked off in a couple of directions: Claudia and Eric to see the Maritime Museum (which they liked), and the rest of us to Pendennis Castle.
As expected, Friday arrived with weather different from that forecast on Thursday night: although not very warm, there was a mixture of sun and clouds rather than the predicted rain. So, after bidding adieu to the somewhat rapacious landlady at the Chelsea Hotel, we walked off in a couple of directions: Claudia and Eric to see the Maritime Museum (which they liked), and the rest of us to Pendennis Castle.
Built by Henry VIII after he comprehensively pissed off the Catholic Church (by divorcing without permission, confiscating all properties of the Church in England, and establishing the Church of England), and thereby gave the Catholic continental powers (Spain and France) a great excuse to make war against him, Pendennis Castle was one of a number of fortifications built to protect key harbors along the south coast. Falmouth, which has the third largest deepwater harbour in the world (after Sydney and Rio) was one of the most important, and two castles were built, one at Pendennis point and the other at St. Mawes.
Pendennis was subsequently enlarged by Elizabeth I, and remained in use until the end of the Second World War. For me the most interesting thing there was a historical presentation of the development of coastal and naval artillery over the centuries since Pendennis was built, and in particular the observation that artillery and warships didn't change much between the time of Henry VIII and the Napoleonic period... over 200 years.
This is intriguing because one of the key arguments often used to explain how Europe came to rule the world is its rapid technological progress driven by competition between the various European states. But here we have one of the key elements of military power in a virtual stasis until the invention of rifled barrels (which increased the maximum distance that a ball or a shell could be shot from about 2000 yards to over 9000). Why wasn't this invented earlier? Inquiring minds want to know!
From Pendennis we walked along the coast path overlooking Falmouth's docks (today much reduced in size and importance -- the military does a little refitting work here, and a private company builds superyachts for billionaires), and down into the town. A little tatty, we felt, and so after a quick walk up and down the main street we took a ferry over to St. Mawes.
There we split again, with Franz and Ingrid checking into our hotel, and Lidia, Bonnie, and I walking along the water's edge to St. Just in Roseland to see the church there. It isn't very big, but it is very charming. There has been a church next to the water here since around 500AD, and although the present building isn't that old, it, and the churchyard, feel old. Quite a special place.
Then we walked back and got rained on a little. But that was OK :-).
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Sent from my iPad
