More of Falmouth and Beyond

We continued to explore Falmouth and the surrounding areas for a couple weeks.  One of our absolute favorite things to do was the National Maritime Museum.  With the purchase of one ticket for £12, a person would have entry for an entire year.  We took full advantage, pacing ourselves and saving plenty to do over the course of a couple of weeks.  Every day that rained (remember, this is the UK, so that's just about every other day), we would explore another section and learn a little bit more.   

The main exhibits at the museum are currently the art of tattooing and the story of Captain Bligh, famous for the mutiny aboard The Bounty in the South Pacific.  William Bligh was a unique character who had drama follow him everywhere he went and there is definitely more to his story than just that mutiny episode. His ancestral home was in Cornwall which makes learning about him here in Falmouth pretty significant.  

When it wasn't raining, we would take the dinghy up the Fal river (thus the name Falmouth, which lies at the mouth of the river) to Mylor or we would go across Carrick Roads over to St Mawes.  We also took the bus up to Truro which is the county seat of Cornwall.  As usual, the experience is not necessarily the destination, but more about the journey.  We explored the area on a daily basis, whether it was beaches or villages or museums - Falmouth was entertaining and fun, much more than expected.  We were sad to leave but look forward to going back next spring.  

There were a couple feet under the dinghy when we went ashore but you guessed it, low tide leaves the dinghy high and dry.  Good thing we can carry it back to the water.

The gaff-rigged schooner, Eda Frandsen, in front of St Mawes castle

Dinghy-ing around castles

Bummer

Watch your food...finders keepers

Up close with St Mawes castle

Guess what time it is....lowwwww tide

All bundled up, ready for a dinghy ride

Upstairs on the double decker

"Take care on stairs"

Yep, even in the UK this is a common sentiment.

Truro Cathedral

Beautiful flying buttresses

In the maritime museum workshop, they are recreating a lifeboat from the Titanic.  The model they are working from is on the table

This is the radio that was onboard Suhaili, which belonged to Sir Robin Knox-Johnston (knighted after his voyage).  Knox-Johnston was the first person to sail solo, nonstop around the world (1969).  Wow - times have changed - I couldn't imagine having a radio of this size aboard Terrapin

They have a tower in the museum where you can see tidal levels through the windows.  See the high tide mark on the wall  (top right) and the mid-tide halfway down.  The placards on the wall below "Mid Tide" are about 6' up from the floor.

The only place we ever want to be in a life raft is in an exhibit in a museum.