In the first year that I met my wife we spent a few days in Clovelly, Devon for her birthday from where we radiated out during the days visiting places of interest to us, one of them being Tintagel in Cornwall, famously associated with the legend of King Arthur. Over twenty years have passed since then but we recently decided to pay the area another visit. We had planned to spend a little longer than we did at Tintagel visiting the castle but roadworks stretched our drive down to the town in Cornwall from where we staying to nearly three hours. As a result we limited ourselves to the main headland area of the castle but it was surprising just how much was as we vaguely remembered it and impressive just how much had been improved under the stewardship of English Heritage.
Tickets for the castle can be bought in the town at the top of the hill leading down to the shore where the castle is located, or down at the shore itself, or just before you cross a bridge onto the island rock where the majority of the castle ruins are located. The steps leading up to the castle ruins are steep but not dramatically so; the only issue with them is the unevenness of the risers which caused some strain on our calves and knees when stretching unexpectedly or facing a slightly further drop than expected on occasion.
One obviously new feature at Tintagel Castle was a stylish sculpture of King Arthur. Unsurprisingly, it was quite a photographic draw for people clambering around the historic site. Also unsurprisingly, you could buy miniature sculptures in the gift shop.
It was incredibly mild when we visited, right at the end of October; so much so, in fact, that we were both in short sleeves while exploring. I imagine that a sharp sea breeze coming from the north would change things very noticeably. Regardless, it’s a lovely area of the world with a lot of interesting history, great opportunities for taking photos, and well worth a visit.
