Well what happened was............................Max and I were sat at the cricket in mid May when he started talking about the fact he’d never been through Cornwall on the train and travelled on the various branch lines. I responded that it was an interesting experience with tremendous scenery and the next thing we knew it was agreed that a 3 day trip to see the sights was the very thing for two retired old gits.
As I found booking train tickets in advance we could get to Penzance from Taunton for a combined price of £14.95 and with a pub/hotel in the middle of Penzance the trip had to happen. So leaving Taunton at 9:46 on Wednesday 17th we travelled down to “sunny” Cornwall speeding along the marvels of the sea wall at Dawlish to arrive in a damp Penzance just after 1. One curiosity ~ although it was a Wednesday the train did stop at Camborne!!!

Depositing our bags at the hotel after an arduous 100 yard walk and after taking the opportunity to sample a pint of Skinners
we caught the 2 o’clock train back to Truro to travel the Falmouth branch. Unfortunately it was drizzly damp in Falmouth
so we were forced to find shelter in “The Quayside Inn”. Again an element of compulsion meant we ended up consuming some

~ well rude not to don’t you agree?

Anyway when the rain stopped we caught the train back to Truro where we had a 45 minute wait for next one back to Penzance. So we popped into the "Globe Inn" some 10 minutes walk away ~ what a mistake. Pub was damp, smelly and the beer worse. Mind you landlord could have stepped straight out of Fawlty Towers!
However when we got back to Penzance the sun was shining giving a lovely view across Mounts Bay to St Michaels Mount.

Thursday 18th June

After a gynormous breakfast including sausages, bacon, eggs, beans, tomatoes and hogs pudding we caught the train to Par for our next excursion on the branch to Newquay. An interesting 50 minutes through the dying heart of the china clay industry

in a 4 coach unit half of which had been pinched from the Taffs ~ now you know that’s going to be rubbish being Welsh cast offs!

Having said that I note from the summer Saturday timetable that all the trains are HST’s or ex-Virgins direct from London and Manchester but the line is so winding that they are timed to do journey in an hour and quarter so perhaps the old Welsh one not so shabby.

The Newquay beaches looked fine

but we needed some lunchtime refreshment so a visit was made to “The Griffin” where we had some more

Then the train back to Par for connection to St Ives via St Erth. A lovely 3 hours then spent walking around St Ives.

We then caught train back to Penzance (via St Erth) for late night entertainment from the bar below the hotel room with Karaoke until the early hours!

Friday 19th June

After another huge breakfast it was on the train to Liskeard for our trip on the Looe Branch. A lovely Cornish village though I believe the West side is preferable as less of these bloody tourists go over the river.

On walking down the main street in East Looe we bumped into Maurice and Pam Hall from Taunton ~ so you see these retired people get everywhere. Mind they thought it was so cold they were packing up and motoring home with plan of going straight on to France!

And of course we had to visit the oldest pub in Looe because

....................................... excuse me you need a reason?

As mid afternoon approached we had to dash back to Liskeard to catch train to Plymouth so we could at least travel on the final Cornish branch to Gunnislake. Well when I say Cornish branch it’s only the last mile which is in Cornwall as the rest is in God’s chosen county and I may say I took great pleasure in using my “Ride Cornwall” ticket to travel through Devon! Due to time constraints we couldn’t get off at Gunnislake so we’ll save that pleasure (or at least that of Calstock)


for a later date. Only trouble then was we had 75 minutes to kill in Plymouth ~ a period of time which I can honestly say just reinforced my opinion of what an unmitigated shithole that place is!!!!!

Overall an excellent trip which enabled Max to ride the Cornish lines and for me to bring back memories of the St Ives and Looe branches and make new discoveries of the other lines. Great fun!

PS.
Amongst the other beers tested were:-