Musing on the Moor - tourists

I had a busy week at work and by Thursday evening I was really looking forward to a peaceful weekend, I had no great plans other than pottering around our plot. The weather forecast was good, that meant - avoid the beaches like the plague.

A sunny August weekend in Cornwall always means an invasion of 'emmits'. This is a local term for holiday makers that fed up with the queues on the A30, head off at great speed down the country lanes without any idea where they are going they usually end up lost. At this point all common sense leaves them and on strange, very narrow roads where two cars cannot pass each other without pulling into the hedge they discover the secrets of the 'Cornish hedge' which is usually made of granite disguised by some very attractive weeds and results in their 'pride and joy' ending up bent and buckled when they hit it.

The lanes are only short cuts if you know where you are going and don't think that 'sat nav' or 'pratt nav' as I call it will help it won't, the lanes are slow and don't go where you think they are going, they are the long route. They head off in the right direction but half an hour later you are back where you started and the queue is longer and slower, so stick to the main roads and just accept that there are no motorways in Cornwall - we like it that way - just come down here and relax, take it easy and expect it to take ages to get anywhere, its part of the charm. The A30 is now partially a dual carriageway which means that Cornwall is accessible without having to leave home at 4.00 am and it taking 12 to 18 hours to arrive but just as I think of the ferry to France (I hate the Channel Tunnel) as the beginning of a holiday and time to get into relaxed mode, think of the single bit of carriageway east of Bodmin as the transition from the hustle and bustle of everyday life to holiday.

Its only about 3 weeks until the kids go back to school and we can reclaim the A30, the lanes and beaches again.