This is the figurehead from a tall ship (La Recouvrance to be precise). She was docked in Penzance harbour today for more Trafalgar Day celebrations. We’re not sure how a French craft got in after last night’s display but got in she did.

I took DM’s remonstrations with me a couple of weekends ago very seriously and have striven since then to make sure I don’t go into work overdrive frenzy mode again. That’s meant, however painful it is for me (if something needs doing, I’m one of those folks who has to do it NOW), I’ve been mixing the finishing off of the cottage with some better, less stressful stuff.

Anyway, last night’s trip to see the beacon lit and the boat(!) burned was so much fun that we decided to grab some more of it today and we went to Penzance to see their celebrations. Penzance, as legend has it, was the place where the news first broke of the famous victory and Nelson’s loss. It was brought here by fishing boat after the battle ended.

Neither of us have ever been there before, for me it’s a bit too near to that scary place, Newlyn, where the factory ships come in to land half a sea full of cod, so I’ve only ever driven straight past. We were both pleasantly surprised because it’s a really cute town, with a maze of granite paved streets and a big harbour that looks across the bay to St Michael’s Mount. It’s only failing was that parking turned into a complete fiasco and we drove around for half an hour before finding a car park with a bit of space for us.

The harbour was playing host to quite a few celebratory events, press-gangs roamed the streets, strange old-fashioned musicians strolled round playing their instruments and dressed in strange garb and this tall ship was moored up alongside the quay. We had been led to believe there would be two tall ships but we only saw this one.

Along the edge of the harbour was a French market and to my unsophisticated ear they did actually sound like real French traders, not locals hamming it up. There were all sorts of wares for sale and I’ve got a few pics from the event that I’ll try to post at some later stage.
Don’t you think this figurehead is beautiful? I often think they’re a bit sort of matronly but she’s gorgeous.

We’ve had a good day and I’ve even managed to get in a bit of ‘doing stuff that needs doing’ by doing some gloss painting and ordering us a wardrobe to put our clothes in so my need to nest-build is also satisfied. Not only that, but lady luck was kind to us and didn’t send any rain clouds our way at all, all day.

Two years ago, we visited the Minack for the first time - what a fabulous place. Last year, we were heading up to 'town' for supper with Shazbop and Champagne Hughie.