Thursday 3rd September 2020

Jackie from the Harrington rang me last night, thanks to the cursed Covid-19 she might have to close which I find rather upsetting.  Every year we go to newquay in Cornwall for our annual two week holiday, this year is the first time we haven't been for years.  I want to go again next year but I might be on my own this time which is something I'm going to have to get used to.  I remember the first time we went.

We used to go with National Express because the train was too expensive, If I known then what I know now then i would have taken the train earlier.  

  

Me and my parents used to go to Mill Stream coach park, sometimes the coach(due at 10.35) was late which was annoying as we had to change buses at Bristol bus station and i was worried about missing it as we had to be there by 1pm.  We would go through Warminster (which I always called a half horse town) and through Bath and onto Bristol.  parents would always rush off to the bathroom at Bristol, there is a toilet on board but the door is hard to open, and I hate being thrown about while having a piss.  We always went under the Bristol suspension bridge, the view of the river is amazing.  Sometimes people abseil down the steep cliff sides, sadly people also jump off the bridge to their death's.  Sometimes the flow of traffic is a nightmare into Bristol.

We knew we were on our way when we arrived at Plymouth, I always remembered the sound of seagulls.  We used to stop for forty minutes at the old Plymouth bus station, the ladies toilets I hated because they had those old fashioned chain pull toilets.  A lot of the shops were scruffy and eventually left when the new bus station was built, a lot of people from Cornwall come to Plymouth to do their shopping.  There's an old bombed out church in Plymouth from WW2, the shell of the building still survives as a memorial of the bombing.

I loved the long tunnel after we passed the toll bridge offices. We went though after crossing the Tamar bridge, this is one of Brunel's bridges and like the Bristol suspension, it has it's own style.  Again the view over the river is phenomenal, looking down onto all the boats far down below, and then entering the tunnel; I should have mentioned the sign which says 'welcome to Cornwall' it's also written in Cornish underneath.  All the houses on the other side are completely different, here they are made of stone instead of the usuel bricks the authorities use.

The only annoying thing about the national express is that we wouldn't arrive until 7pm, when once we would arrive about 6.30.  We would stop at Column Major a village where people seldom got off.  Also they always had the air conditioning too high!

When I first arrived in Newquay, it was like an adventure, I've been coming here for years now.  the first time I came with Penny.  I remember first coming to the Harrington, it was a sunny evening and some young bloke was ironing his shirt.  We'd had to walk all the way down from the bus station, it got a lot easier when we started catching the train.

Newquay is so scenic, I remember when they did bus trips from the bus station, but they don't do that now; that's why I turned to Ted's Tours.  

I guess the Corona virus will affect a lot of things, it will be like the end of an era if the Harrington does close.  i do have a travel diary I kept from my time in Newquay which I may put up here as a separate blog and see if I can link it to this one.  I've had a lot of adventures in Newquay which I'd like to share.  II will be returning to Newquay, but I'm unsure of if my parents will be with me or where I will go; but things won't be the same anymore.

I'm not stopping going to this magical place, it's just that things will be be different.  My heart is hurting as i type this, sometimes I need to be with people who understand me.