Cornwall and cars

This is Poldhu Cove on the Lizard peninsula. We spent the last week staying in Mullion, and there are wonderful walks in almost any direction - to the coast, the coves, and the coastal path along the sea's edge, which is astonishingly pretty at this time of year with all the spring flowers.

This is me on the path between Polurrian and Poldhu and if you click to get a larger pic you'll see some of the wild flowers beside me. They were amazing, some so tiny they were like little blue stars in the grass. Hard not to walk on them out on the open cliffs.

We had some adventures. After shopping at Tesco in Helston we drove down to the Lizard lighthouse, parked up on the grassy slope, looked around the Wolf Rock lighthouse, then ambled along the cliffs. When we grew tired of peering over the edge, we went back to the car. It wouldn't start. For some reason the imobiliser in the security system cut off the engine. The car wouldn't move. Ha! Five o'clock on a Sunday afternoon perched on the cliffs in a rising wind and a car that won't go. Wonderful.

Dh fiddled and probed, but nothing would shift it. About ten to six, after watching all the other cars zoom merrily out of the car park and beginning to feel very small under that wide sky, I volunteered to go to the tiny gift shop on the cliff edge and see if I could phone for assistance.

This offer was snapped up, and off I trudged. The young man proved most helpful and help was summoned from the local garage in Kynance. Ten minutes later, when I had barely recovered from trudging back up the hill to the car, the cavalry showed up in the shape of Mr Johnson and son, a tow rope was produced and off we went up horrendously narrow lanes back to their garage.

I rode with Mr Johnson, who told me he once towed a Rolls Royce backwards (because it's front wheels had locked) from the same spot, and that new Range Rover had gone right over the cliff last year. It's still there, he said, and I wished I'd known earlier when I was looking over the edge. I also wondered how a car as big as a Rolls Royce had fit in those narrow lanes....but then, a RR must be as wide, if not wider. Mr Johnson took us back to Mullion and promised to take our car to the nearest Honda dealer next day - which happened to be the other side of Truro, in a place with the quaint name of Trispen. All three men were of the opinion that only Honda could sort out the electronics that would enable to car to move again.

I think we were lucky indeed that Mr Johnson was willing to turn out on a Sunday evening...