Sunday - a visit to Porthleven Food and Drink Festival

Not a good start to the day - heavy mizzle at home, but it seemed to be clearing so off we went - rather oddly they had closed the road that leads to the top end of Porthleven and the Penrose Estate - but they allowed us through when we said we were walking the dogs 

Because we had driven East we were back in the mizzle ! 

But it gradually got less and less as we walked down into Porthleven 

We had quite a number of happy holidays in the cottage just out of sight on our right   - before all the sea defences were put in

LT64 GLEANER was built as a Lowestoft drifter of wooden carvel construction by Kitto of  Porthleven in 1874 and at some point was taken to Germany where she was hauled ashore for restoration in the 1970s. This was not completed and the vessel was brought back to the UK by her present owner.

Since then, Cornish shipwright Spike Davies saved her after the local council threatened to destroy her and he, with a team of helpers, dismantled the entire boat into a container, shipped her back to England and spent the next five years putting her back together.  She sailed for the first time in 40 years in the summer of 2018. 

Amazing to think she's come home !

The crowds were still rather sparse due to the weather and we really felt for this chap, with no one stopping to listen 

We listened to Femmes de la Mer practising for their performance on the Lime Kiln Stage - sadly by then we were back around the far side of the harbour 

This trip was really a big test for Maisie as we needed to see how she would react to being in crowds - it had been busy in places and she did really well - especially in the crowded food tent. Only thing that really scared her was the horrendously loud music that suddenly started in the main marquee as we walked past. 

We decided it was a little cold to sit outside so popped into the cafe by the harbour for coffee and cake 

 Maisie was very good as she's been in cafes before, but this one was very busy and noisy - she just laid down, but looked concerned when Jim stood up

 Don't go without me

Ah that's nice !

We then started to walk back to the car 

Dogs still allowed until May 1st 

Lots of Thrift (Sea Pinks) 

The famous Tye Rock House - scene of so many storm photos 

Back up at the top 

Looking much clearer 

Back home and I could see the cargo vessel Hendriks that had arrived overnight

The larger clump of Arum Lillies  is now flowering 

Later on Jim took the dogs up the hill 

Rather cloudy