The Dish

Despite my best intentions when enquiring at the very helpful Tourist information in Penzance, I ended up at what was almost a parody of the English seaside guest house- floral curtains, lots of trinkets on the landings, and a strict instruction that breakfast would only be served between 8.30 and 9am; and despite a full dining room at that time, hardly a word was spoken, other than by the serving landlady. Hmm, so much for requesting somewhere nice...

I wasn't far from St Michael's Mount, and, it being low tide, I walked across the bay, only to find the castle was closed, it being Saturday! I don't know of many other NT properties where the only closing day is Sat!

Following my investigation of Cables and Wireless at Portcurno yesterday, I was keen to visit Goonhilly on the Lizard Peninsula, home to a family of Satellite dishes, some of the first in the UK but now mainly decommissioned by BT who have shifted most of their satellite operations to Herefordshire. It now has the compulsory visitor centre, interactive hands-on exhibits, film show, coach tour of the site, gift shop, café etc, and it was clear it was the Saturday of the great return East for most people, as it was pleasantly quiet; I opted for a tour of Arthur, the oldest of the dishes, and turned out to be the only person on it! This has advantages, but also means I have to appear extra-interested and think of intelligent questions to ask, even if I'm not really interested in the answer. Having said that, though some of the technical details went over my head (science was never my strong point!), it was quite interesting and the young guide knowledgeable.
Goonhilly has plenty of BT marketing in the exhibits and the shop, not surprisingly, but also what they claim is the fastest cybercafe in the country with its own 1 gigabit pipe and 100mbps to each iMac- it seemed fast, but not that fast!

In the afternoon up to Truro, and a look round the wonderful John Loughborough Pearson designed Cathedral- I'd been before, but my last visit to Cornwall was about 15 years ago, so it was good to remind myself of the features and of this pleasantly compact city. Tourist Information were somewhat more helpful in my request to find somewhere nice to stay- on this occasion on a farm a couple of miles out of the city, being tastefully restored to offer B&B in a wonderfully peaceful setting at the end of a very bumpy and pothole-ridden track.