Friday, August 13, 2010

Fowey

I was very impressed with Fowey as a place to visit. A lovely little town of stone houses painted white beside a perfect natural harbour. The narrow streets are almost too narrow for cars which presumably saves it from the worst of the tourists hordes.

The harbour is deep enough for some very large vessels to come up. Mostly these are coming for the fine China clay, but apparently the cruise ship MS The World was able to make it up the windy channel. The local taxi drivers are still talking about the tips they received!

Must admit one of those China clay vessels gave us a bit of a fright as we crossed the harbour at night in our inflatable. I doubt it saw our dim white light, so was rather glad when we made it safely out of the main channel.

It has a long and interesting history, including (allegedly) a visit by the young Jesus, piracy, smuggling, privateering, attacks by the French and Dutch, battles in the civil war and becoming a rotten borough. Famous residents including writers Daphne du Maurier and Kenneth Grahame and a host of day time TV presenters.

A few other pics of Fowey below:



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