CYHA NEWS

Biomes and Badgers

Can this be real? A British Bank Holiday with actual sunshine? And where better to spend it than in a gorgeous corner of Cornwall, near the slightly less gorgeous St Austell. Most of us decided to take the Friday off to cope with the enormously long drive down, incorporating a scenic stop-off en route. Our car decided on the highly educational Stonehenge, which was fabulous, but we did feel a bit "done" when the others confessed to an early notch on their cream tea tally! We were slightly appeased as Salisbury isn't actually in Devon or Cornwall, therefore can't really count.

Saturday we did a walk (yes, you remember those - where you put boots on and stroll along dirt tracks), albeit a rather short one, on one of the few open stretches of coast path. However, with sandy beaches, a bucket & spade, boats and cream teas, we somehow contrived to make it last all day. The evening was spent sitting in Golant YH dining room in the dark, being shushed every time you raised your voice above a whisper. Ultimately we were rewarded by three or four badgers coming to feed from dishes placed by the windows. Absolutely gorgeous.

Sunday was Eden day. Pre-organised coach took us to the transformed clay-pit, now fitted with the largest greenhouse in the world! (the famous biome). The place had only been open a couple of months and much of the planting has yet to mature, but it was still an extraordinary experience. I had expected it to be more like Kew Gardens, with the emphasis on displaying plants, but this was not the case. With education upper most, displays had been designed to show man's relationship with plants and how it's much the same the world over. I spent all day there and still hadn't finished, and I'm really looking forward to going back in a couple of years time.

Monday saw most of us heading off for the Lost Gardens of Heligan. I'm not sure what else I can say about these, except I'm jolly glad they found them! What a fabulous place. Cream tea was pretty good too...

Cornish weekend

Cornwall was good. 29 of us only just fitted in the Members' kitchen for dinner. Golant hostel is perched up the side of a valley with a lovely view over the river Fowey. They also have a badger set in the grounds and every evening, through the dining-room windows, you can see badgers on the terrace ('cos the warden puts down leftover food under the terrace lights). Wow! That close!

A local farmer said the weekend's weather was the best they've had since last August!

Next time you see old sailing ship scenes at the cinema it'll probably be Charlestown, where we went on Sat - a company called Square Sail owns the harbour and 2 Onedin Line type boats for doing films. Charlestown also has a nice pub with a terrace in the sun. Dave J developed a fixed smile over lunchtime... Eden project was impressive but boring (I have a short attention span for plants!) but the Lost Gardens of Heligan is brilliant. A good break.

Lorna

A long long time ago, or my student days as they are known I lived for a summer in Charlestown. I was in the area for the work experience part of my engineering course. So it was with mixed feelings that I visited the area again with the group to Golant Hostel.

We travelled down on the Friday. Saturday was a walk along part of the Coastal Path that was open, Foot and Mouth restrictions prevented more of it being open. We started from a car park and walked through part of a China Clay extraction plant, it was surreal to walk through the industrial area and then on to the beach. Some went to look at the rocky pools and some built sand castles (and I have the photos to prove it). From here we walked along the path to Charlestown, Charlestown itself has changed since I lived there and has become more middle class if not a little yuppiefied in places. The port itself appears to have benefited from the new owners the character of the place has changed, I found the large house we rented as undergraduates and it had an Osteopaths sign outside it. When I was last here the group that I was with and myself were more interested in the pub than the beach, and the hotel that was frequented was far to upmarket for us. Plenty of time was spent here taking pictures of the port (which has appeared in many films and tv programmes), the Sailing ships that were moored there and a lot of relaxing outside the hotel.

Sunday was the visit to the Eden project, a coach had been hired to take us there and the driver successfully negotiated his way both in and out of the hostel and its narrow driveway, whereas the driver of the students (another group staying at the hostel) coach who left on the Monday did not, and had some explaining to do to his boss. The Eden Project has two geodesic structures built into a man made crater. Very much like the SF film Silent Running. One is the Humid Tropic Biome, the second is the Warm Temperate Biome. The outside landscape has just been planted and will represent a colder climate. The most popular area was the Tropic biome and it was very warm and humid, it even had an air conditioned refuge at the top. Many photos were taken and I expect that these will be shown on future wednesdays. In the afternoon a small breakaway group of us visited Lanhyrock House and Gardens, a National Trust property.

On Monday we visited The Lost Gardens of Heligan. These gardens have been restored after falling into disuse after the first world war. A great deal of effort has gone into this project and it was obvious that it meant a lot to the people who worked there. My favourite area was the Jungle, it is planted with palms and tree ferns, these plants are not what you would expect to see in an English garden and you could easily forget that you were in the UK.

The other highlight of the trip were the badger watching from the dining room as kitchen scraps were put out for them each night. The clear favourite was the chicken and the least popular was the potatoes, they are definitely not vegetarians.

Clive

Indonesia slides

Many thanks to Lynn for her wonderful slides of Indonesia. Climbing those volcanoes looked like hard work, but what tremendous views!

Saffron Walden Skip Filling

A couple of Sundays ago we returned to Saffron Walden hostel to maintain the garden, a year after we completed our YHA Millennium Challenge Project to renovate it. Margaret, the Warden, has worked hard to keep it in good order in the year since we left. On arrival we were greeted by an empty skip and a huge pile of rubble; Dave and I thought "we'll never get that in there in a day", but Gerry, Dave, Jamie and I completely cleared the rubble pile allowing the wheely bin to be moved off the garden. Meanwhile Alison, Helen and Lorna weeded in the herb garden, so another productive day. If there is interest, we may go back towards the end of September to prepare for autumn.

Jim

Pleshey Walk

I think we must be a bit out of practice with this walking thing. Our 7.30 walk didn't start until nearly eight, and even then we had to pick up trailers. Still, eventually about seven of us managed to join up and complete a respectable walk, on real footpaths recently re-opened, under the dying rays of some genuine summer sunshine. Fabulous.

Ali

Latest

Index

Home

Contact