Wine tasting in Penzance

This week, we had a relaxing time in Cornwall and enjoyed every moment of it.

To explore the area, we took our bikes out of the Lazarette and cycled through a countryside made up of hills and green pastures. While Montreal was experiencing a last snow fall, beautiful flowers were blooming in Cornish gardens.

It took a little adaptation to drive on the left side of the road. The roundabouts were particularly tricky. One of our favourite trails was along river Mylor and its nice village and marina.

With all the nice pubs along the way, we developed a taste for beer.

Penzance

To expand exploration a little further, we took the bus to Penzance. We initially wanted to test the thermal section of the Jubilee pool (where the water temperature is more to our liking) but ended up tasting wine at Polgoon Vineyard and Orchard. It was a great experience. They grow a variety of grapes, and our favourite wines were the white ones. We especially liked the Bacchus. For the pinot noir, maybe climate change will increase temperatures and number of sunny days required for the development and maturing of red grapes. Cheers to our friends in Switzerland who grow white and red grapes on their vineyard.

Close to Penzance, we discovered that Cornwall has its own Mount Saint Michael, with an abbey built by Benedictine monks like on French Mont Saint Michel. The island is privately owned but accessible on low tide via a cobbled causeway.

Boat projects

One morning, we had the surprise of seeing another Boreal dock to the pontoon next to ours. We had the pleasure to meet Molly and Dee on SV Wings (Florida, USA). They came from Tréguier, where they had wintered their boat, and are headed for Scotland and Norway. We enjoyed hearing about their sailing years in the Caribbean Islands and hope we will meet again some time.

In-between these leisurely activities, we took care of the inevitable boat projects. We both climbed up the mast (no pictures, we were too concentrated). Yan made it to the top where he found dirt (we do not know why) and bird poo (this is clear why). Another project was to create a structure to facilitate the lowering/lifting of the dinghy engine. We are particularly proud of our splicing.

Next week should see us move up river Fal and anchor in scenic settings (weather permitting, of course).