July 2, 2006

Welcome to St. Michael's Mount. A stone wall creates a cove around the northern edge of the island, which you can approach by boat (at high tide) or by walking half or all the way (at low tide). It's a pain when you have something this great so early on in the walk; all I could think of was the 13 miles I had to cover, and how I couldn't really spend too much time exploring off the beaten path. But I took the boat anyway for a quick look.
 
One pound and twenty seems a bit pricey for a 5 minute boat ride, but if you can't fleece tourists, who can you fleece? That's the view from the mainland, and I'm sitting in the boat as I take this.
Here I've arrived and I'm on the rock wall; that blue boat is typical of the shuttle on the way out. 
Some of the buildings on the property are as old as the 12th Century, when it was a Benedictine priory. History says that the St. Aubyn family got it after the English Civil War, and descendents still live in the castle (which appears to be undergoing renovation). I wonder how many centuries your family has to live somewhere before you get to change the name to your own.

Anyway, I didn't have time (or the urge to spend six pounds) for a trip up to the castle, so I just snapped a few pictures and used the loo.
 


And no, I haven't seen this particular version of "Twelfth Night," which featured Helena Bonham Carter, among others. It does seem to have been almost entirely shot in Cornwall, however.
On the way back, the boat stopped halfway on a rock I swear I hadn't noticed before (but which must have been there). After that, you had to walk the rest of the way back to shore, as the tide had already gone out. In my opinion, if you only go halfway back on the boat, it should be 60p, but nobody asked me.
And, from a distance, the Mount. Onward!