On Friday 7 July 2006, at 5.30pm, St Peter's Leckhampton Rock Group met outside the church anticipating a wonderful weekend trip to Tintagel. We were not to be disappointed.
Present were Rosemary Collins, Angus Collins, Helen Shiells, Thomas Shiells, John Smallwood, Charlotte Smallwood, Helen Warner, Alice Wilman, George Webb, Becky Faull and Sam Coxon, supervised by Melanie Smallwood, Jeff Smallwood, Martin Faull and Rachel Marlowe. We travelled down the motorway by minibus, pausing at a service station to eat packed suppers. At around 9.00pm we arrived at Tintagel YHA, a comfortable and attractive youth hostel in an isolated area on the edge of a cliff, with gorgeous views. We then unpacked, and drank hot chocolate before going to bed.
The following day, we ate a quick breakfast before going to Rock, where we parked the minibus before catching the ferry to Padstow. There we spent a pleasant morning shopping and ate a fish and chip lunch on the quay, which was only slightly spoiled by a mob of seagulls who circled us like vultures and robbed Becky of her Cornish pasty!
We spent the afternoon on the beach at Rock, and had great fun despite the windy weather. We all went swimming and built sandcastles. Helen Warner built a tortoise, Alice, Helen Shiells, Sam and Rosemary buried Becky alive and covered her with sand moulded to make her look like a mermaid. Jeff, Martin and John made a boat; Angus, Tom and George dug some pits, and Charlotte made a miniature cave.
We then went back to the youth hostel. After tea we all played Scrabble, Monopoly and Consequences. At one point Helen Shiells and Rosemary sneaked away in deadly secrecy to help Melanie bake a birthday cake for Alice, who was to be fourteen the following day. Helen Warner and Charlotte iced it in the morning.
Alice was delighted by the cake, which she was shown at breakfast, although we all ate slices of it later, when we had picnic lunch. We then went to Tintagel, the legendary ruined castle where King Arthur is said to have been born. The beautiful, rugged island certainly seemed like a good setting for a legend. We went to the beach afterwards for a while to admire some spectacularly huge waves. We then took the minibus home to Leckhampton. We stopped to eat packed lunches on the way, and arrived at around 5pm.
We would all like to thank Jeff, Melanie, Martin and Rachel for a fantastic weekend!
Rosemary Collins
St Peter's Leckhampton Rock Group
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