Three days into my Cornish prehistoric tour.
Day 1. We left civilisation and headed for prehistory, or Cornwall as it is known to the English and Kernow to the locals. The weather was foul. Not tempests, but persistent drizzle for a good 100 miles. We stopped twice for comfort breaks in the 200 mile journey, both times having a quick dash into the public conveniences, while having coffee/lunch in the car. Home base for the next week is a small stone villa miles from anywhere. We drove 200 miles in just a shade over five hours Including stops.
Day 2. Collecting provisions for the stay. We arranged in advance to collect comestibles from a nearby supermarket, just turning up and loading the car with the groceries we had bought. No walking around isles in stores avoiding “other people” whist wearing a fetching surgical mask. Nope, just a two minute load up and off we went. We left the car at the villa in the afternoon and went for a walk to a nearby deserted beach.
Day 3. First trip to see Cornwall’s prehistory. Cornwall is littered with Stone Age and Bronze Age and Iron Age sites. We chose three to visit today, all quite close to each other, but otherwise unconnected.
The megalithic stone circle is called the Merry Maidens. It is the sort of Stone circle that Billy Connolly visits and feels the need to dance naked. I can resist the urge. Just a few yards away, on the side of the road is a burial chamber. The information board illustrates how concern for the protection of sites such as these is a relatively modern phenomenon. A previous generation built a road on top of part of the burial chamber!
Then we visited an Iron Age village, or the remains of it. Carn Euny was inhabited as recently as the 18th century.
We spent the rest of the day walking along part of the SouthWest Coastal Path, leaving the car in a carpark for others to admire.
A couple of times today I’ve felt the engine stutter. I knew what it was, HT ignition breakdown. This is a collateral effect of the underbody rust prevention system (oil leak from the front crank seal). An occasional drip finds its way onto the damper and gets flung up and onto the coil or onto the dizzie cap and plug wires.
So I took the cap and plug wires off to give them a good clean. The dizzie cap is quite recent, but the wires came with the car more than 65,000 miles ago. I have a spare set with me, just in case. And a cap and rotor arm.
