Day 409: Land’s End

07/09/2022

First thing Monday morning in Okehampton was a video call back home to see the kids. It had been a while since my last video call with them, they have got much better with the phone. Eloise is always excited to provide the goss and Lachlan loves a wave. The frequency of being thrown across the room seemed to have decreased. A Lachlan house tour is always entertaining.

After morning breakfast, Buzz fired up his tractor and was off to work.

Once the farm was under control we set off to Milngavie to catch up with Juju.

After running about Milngavie, Lachlan needed an afternoon nap. Eloise helped Super Mum make sure he was comfortable.

It was a beautiful day, the kids requested an outside picnic dinner. Lachlan refused to share his pasta with Dad.

In Okehampton, the plan was to quickly grab a meal from The Fountain Inn before hitting the cinema for Topgun 2. Sadly after the slowest table service and a three-hour meal, we disappointingly missed out.

Tuesday morning, Eloise called Dad to make sure that he was looking after Spot and that her “special suitcase” was still safe. Lachlan grabbed the attention by performing his morning dance ritual before breakfast.

Turns out there is not much in Okehampton. To make matters worse our hotel situation was not ideal, breakfast near the donkey was going to have to do.

Eloise has really enjoyed her dance lessons, a win-win because Lachlan gets excited having Super Mum all to himself in the library.

After a long day, we needed some exercise and headed up to the Meldon Viaduct. We eventually worked out how to get up. There was a nice view, although it turned dark quickly. Now that we had seen the Meldon Viaduct and the donkey, that was pretty much everything in Okehampton.

Meldon Viaduct carried the London & South Western Railway (LSWR) across the West Okement River at Meldon (near Okehampton) on Dartmoor in Devon, South West England. The truss bridge, which was constructed from wrought iron and cast iron not stone or brick arches, was built under the direction of the LSWR’s chief engineer, WR Galbraith. After taking three years to build, the dual-tracked bridge opened to rail traffic in 1874.

This morning, Lachlan wanted to return to the library. Super Mum sorted out library cards for both the kids, you can imagine how excited they were.

On Tuesday, “Liz Truss [became] the UK’s new prime minister after meeting the Queen at Balmoral, where she was asked to form a government after the resignation of Boris Johnson”. “What will Prime Minister Truss mean for Scotland?”.

In the evening, it was our best opportunity to head to Land’s End. It was a bit of a drive, but we were so close we had to do it. Luckily by the time we had arrived the rain had stopped, it was incredibly windy.

Land’s End is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, situated within the Penwith peninsula about eight miles (13 km) west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it is the English Channel, and to the west the Celtic Sea. Land’s End is the most westerly point of mainland England. However, it is not the westernmost point on mainland Great Britain, as this title narrowly goes to Corrachadh Mòr in the Scottish Highlands.