Sundowner

Long day. It began a little too early with an alarm call from the cockerel. So we were on the road ahead of schedule, and arrived at the nearby diner at 8.30 for a slap-up pancake breakfast. In my new 'unplanning' mode I hadn't checked opening hours on the basis that anywhere that serves breakfast all day would be open at breakfast-time.... Wrong. So a quick trip into St Austell to pass the time until 9.30.

The wait was worth it: a superb breakfast with friendly service in a genuine shipped-over-from-America diner. Great soundtrack too, giving me the opportunity to bore on about music from before I was born.

On then, with the calm assistance of the Google maps lady, to Trebah Gardens near Falmouth. A near tropical gorge leading to the sea, festooned with flowers. Magical. The kids each had a trail to follow (to collect clues and win a prize), but they gracefully tolerated me wandering off after interesting plants. The beach was pebbly, and the sea near flat-calm, so skimming stones seemed obvious. TallGirl finally realised that she has no idea what her limbs are doing when she's not looking at them, and CarbBoy admitted that he can indeed never paddle without getting soaked. We seemed to start something on the beach and soon everyone else was skimming stones too.

Ice cream, zip slides, seed purchasing, and off again. It was too late to go to the Seal Sanctuary, so instead we drove to Watergate Bay to see the other type of sea - huge waves and surfers. Sandcastle building, then unplanned dinner at the Beach Hut - delicious. Tempting as it was to stay and watch the sun go down (this was the view from our table) I didn't fancy those little roads in the dark. So, shattered from all the sea air, I think today has pleased us all.