Tintagel Castle
When we booked to go to Devon camping, one of my conditions after seeing how close we were, was that we must go to Tintagel castle. All the pictures online and the guide book were beautiful.
A Rainy Cornwall day
We had to visit on a wet day didn’t we? OF COURSE!
Now it would be very unfair to say I was disappointed because I am sure if the sun was shining, it would have been perfect. But in the rain it was just a little bit like hard work.
It was raining enough to need rain coats but still too warm to wear them while climbing approximately 34,876 steps (It’s not THAT many btw I just like to exaggerate slightly) the views, while still impressive were not what we had hoped for and thanks to the bad weather we had earlier in the year, the steps down to the beach had been badly damaged and were in the process of being fixed so it did mean we couldn’t explore that which was a real shame as even on the grey day it still looked lovely.
I must point out that English Heritage had made it clear on their website that work was going on and that access to the beach was not possible so at least we were prepared for this.
I was not prepared for the amount of walking involved though, but maybe this just seemed so much harder in the rain as it made the pathways and steps very slippery. It was also hugely popular so negotiating some of the stairs was a slow process, but this is probably good given how slippery it was.
The children managed to enjoy the day. They were able to find stuff to climb on, and as we have already established this really is their only day out criteria. They handled the walking fairly well too, I think I moaned more than they did.
The highlight for us all was reaching the top and posing with the new King Arthur statue. There was something very special about it.
Summary
I am not sure if I would be in a hurry to go back, although I’d love to see the difference a bit of sunshine makes to the place, I’d imagine on a good day it would be overflowing with people, making getting around even trickier. At £24.70 for family entry, I do think it is good value. There is plenty to see and do if the weather was better and eating a picnic high up overlooking the sea does sound rather lovely.
The walk from the main road to the castle and back again was hard going before you’ve even got to the 73,124 (see … exaggerating again!) steps. If you have any issues with your mobility, I would not recommend at all.
The town itself is very quaint and very Cornwall so we obviously had to indulge in a scone! Jam then cream by the way. I won’t ask how you like yours because my way is the right way 😉