Day 5: Friday, September 28

The Photo Tour Begins

The big day has arrived. It’s the day I’ve been waiting all year for – the first day of the Cornwall “Wild West” photography tour.

The photography tour company (Light & Land UK) has booked our group into the Artist Residence on Chapel Street in Penzance; this will be our host hotel for the tour. I must now check out of the Warwick House and check into the Artist Residence and meet up with the group of people I’ll be spending the next five days with.

The timing of this transfer is slightly tricky as I have to check out of the Warwick House by 10:00AM but cannot check into the Artist Residence until 2:00PM. I am homeless for four hours. Before leaving the Warwick House I checked with the Artist Residence and they can hold my bags until check-in time, so that much is a relief.

I transferred my bags to the Artist Residence, then set out wandering Penzance to kill off the few hours ahead of me. Here are some shots from my wandering:

Penzance Train Station:

I stopped for a delicious lunch at a place on the wharf called Hellys Deli Bar Cafe. I ordered a Tuna Mayo, which is very popular here, and received this gigantic sandwich:

This little guy wanted to get in on the food action:

And they had this posted on the wall in the bathroom:

Next to Hellys is Willy Wallers Ice Cream Factory, who sell homemade Cornish ice cream (and no, I did not indulge, believe it or not… that comes later in the trip).

After lunch I walked around Penzance a little more and grabbed a few more images:

… and then it was time to check into the Artist Residence hotel.

After check-in I met our group just after 2:00PM in the hotel bar as planned. It is a good-sized group: 13 participants (1 American, 1 Canadian [guess who?], 1 Dutch, 10 English) and two leaders. Introductions were made, plans and policies delivered, questions answered and expectations set. Wasting no time, our group piled into two multi-passenger vans (quite comfortable, really) and set off for our afternoon and sunset photo shoot at Land’s End. Land’s End is literally the end of the land in England, the very south-west tip. There is no more land west of here until you hit Newfoundland.

The location made for some dramatic shots:

And that brought an end to the tour’s first day. Our group returned to the hotel at about 8:00PM, dinner was at 8:45, then off to bed as we have a dawn photo shoot tomorrow morning and leave in the vans at 5:30AM (yes, you read that correctly…).

Stay tuned for more from the rugged Penzance coastlines.