Today Did Not Go According To Plan

They say it's all in the preparation. I say it's all in the DETAIL of the preparation. The devil, that is. My galavant around the South West seemed to be continuing well this morning - the drive to the next National Trust property on my list (Buckland Abbey) was taking longer than I'd imagined in my head and I'd decided to over-rule the SatNav because I fancied a slightly different route. Nothing wrong with that. Except that's when the rot set in...

My SatNav is usually a creature of much delight. It gets me to where I want to go and means that despite the fact I STILL haven't remembered to put my real-made-of-genuine-paper-atlas in the car, I can get to where I need to be. Even if where I need to be has only just become the destination of choice. However - every now and then it has an off-moment and lands me somewhere just, well, wrong. Today it decided  Buckland Abbey was up a dead-end single-track road at which point I defaulted to following the road signs...which then somewhat petered out. I picked up the scent again (and was sent in a big loop which was entirely unnecessary...hard to describe without a gazillion words, but not SatNav at it's most sensible) only to arrive at said Abbey to discover it was CLOSED.

Now, I've been diligently checking The Book (2012's catalogue of all National Trust sites) and was convinced the Abbey was due to be open today. On careful checking, however, one line gives opening times until Dec 2nd...and the next line down is "from Dec 7th..." - and today is December 5th. And today it was closed. The sun was shining and I was feeling a bit miffed but after a brief wander around the key bit of the grounds (during which period I was sure I was going to be "found out" and briskly escorted from the premises) and a conversation with my Dad (who DID have real genuine maps in front of him) I ended up heading on down towards St Austell.

And this is where the fun really began. I've always rather been of the opinion that whichever direction you go, a SatNav will always, eventually, recalculate your journey so you don't have to turn around. It's an interesting idea, but completely wrong. Especially when the road you've decided so firmly is the "right way to St Austell" turns out to end with a train station and a pedestrian ferry. But back on the (not very straight but especially narrow at times) track to St Austell I found myself wending along quite merrily. Still unsure of where to head to, I ended up enjoying some glorious sunshine on Porthpaen beach - delightfully I was able to settle on some rocks at the foot of the cliff in full sun just as the afternoon was ending. Even more delightfully I was already back at my car when the heavens opened - getting drenched was DEFINITELY not part of the plan.

At which point the only sensible option was an indulgent couple of hours at a local country hotel which had a spa attached. No treatments for me, but steaming, saunaing and some meandering about in the pool, along with reading National Geographic poolside in between times was spot on before heading off to my bed for the night (a little B&B just the other side of the Lost Gardens of Heligan - or, in case my DOD is reading and getting confused: the Pelican Gardens).

So, not the plan, but a good day all the same.