Two Sides Of The Coin

As England takes strides to relax the COVID restrictions, we find ourselves experiencing the consequences of the changes from both sides. We are lucky enough to own a small cottage in the beautifully picturesque harbour town of Padstow in Cornwall – you can view it HERE – which is for the most part a holiday let.

We have used the lockdown period to have some works carried out at the property, leaving us with some making good to do in the form of decorating and new flooring, figuring that there would be an amount of time to get this done before we could reopen for guests. That wasn’t how it worked out. The Government announcement gave only just over a week’s notice of reopening, and, with many people opting for a UK holiday rather than foreign travel this year, our cottage was booked for the entire summer within 24 hours of that announcement being made.

And so it was now a race against time to not only get the work completed, but also make the house COVID compliant, which in itself required quite a bit of effort and expense. This week therefore saw us make the 700-mile round trip for a 48-hour stay, strictly business, and take on that race against time. It was all a bit like one of those TV makeover shows, but with the help of some very willing local contractors we got it all done and returned home happy with the results. And ready for a season which just two weeks ago we thought wouldn’t happen at all.

It’s over forty years since I first set foot in Padstow, over which time I, and we, have been regular visitors to the beautiful Camel estuary. It’s changed a lot in that time, losing none of its charm and gaining considerable gentrification along the way. Seeing it in the final stages of lockdown was unique though, in all those many visits. The harbour pretty much deserted, all the pubs and restaurants closed, empty shelves behind whitewashed shop windows. Dormant ferries bobbing on the water, their only passengers the gulls wondering where the supply of scavenged food has vanished to.

But there is preening too. Stock delivery vans are pulling in, the sounds of vacuum cleaners and drills fill the air, conversions to the new normal are underway. Strangest of all for us personally is spending time in Padstow without touring its pubs. Not done that before!

Now we are done and back home and our first holiday making guests are in the cottage from today, and it’s time to look at the other side of the travel coin as our thoughts turn to resumption of our own travels. We retired last Christmas and 2020 was meant to be our year of adventure, cut short by COVID and resulting in a race home from Vietnam after only 49 days of our adventure.

That first trip was meant to be Thailand-Laos-Vietnam-Cambodia-Singapore, then home in May. This summer was then meant to be France-Spain-Tunisia-Morocco-Turkey-Georgia-Azerbaijan, with a few other detours built in, but of course we no longer have sufficient time for all of that.

So as the so called air bridges open up, so do our options. What, and where, will it be? Certainly the Mediterranean is still calling, and remains the most likely. Whatever and wherever, our delayed dream is about to be resumed, one way or another.

And we absolutely cannot wait.

below are some images of previous trips to Padstow……