When I first met my husband on a UK dating site, my contact name, ‘ Reaching for Skye’ was something John thought was funny since he was living 800 miles away in Cornwall, England. With his second email came this question, ‘ You do know Cornwall is a long way from the Isle of Skye, right? ‘
Living in the US, I had no idea where Cornwall was on a map. I’d loved my past trips to Scotland, but most of what I knew about the UK was limited to London or parts of Scotland. The only beaches I’d seen were those in Scotland and I had never considered there might be coastal paths where you could walk right out to the sea or the fishing ports and villages that make the coast of Cornwall so picturesque.
My lack of geographic direction is still something we laugh about because even after six years of living in southwest England and regular trips that include Scotland and Wales, I get lost. Most of those who follow me at GOTJ know that I take loads of photos of the places we go, but you’d be surprised to know how long it has taken for me to be able to identify a place by sight or how often I confuse them.
I put it down to being lost in the beauty of the location, but John jokes that I’m directionally challenged, a statement that is not new to me nor is he the only person to have suggested it.
That said, a few days ago I received a quiz as part of a marketing campaign for Parkdean Holidays designed to see how well I could identify scenic locations based on photographs of holiday destinations taken in the UK or abroad. I took the short interactive quiz four times getting progressively better each time going from a score of just over 200 to a final score of 522. I know multiple attempts smacks of a high score obsessed perfectionist, but it was actually fun.
The quiz is designed to increase interest in Parkdean Holidays and I’ll admit that I had a look around their website to see where they have sites in the UK.
John handles our camping accommodation reservations so I forwarded it on to him to have a look, but what I really want to know is how well did he do on the ‘Home or Away’ quiz.
Gifts Of The Journey 
It really is a remarkable coincidence that you should write this; today I came across some photos taken more than 55 years ago in my childhood, on holiday in north Cornwall. I can’t quite identify the beach so I was going to ask you and John if you recognised exactly where the photos were taken. I too am directionally challenged, except when I’m in a city, when I have robotically accurate instincts!
I have feeling that John could probably identify the beach, Cathy. His family spent a lot of time here over the years and he’s good at recognizing places from older photos. You could send it over in an email or we could stop by and have a look. As for directions, I can follow my nose really well in the city too, but no one ever gives me credit for that. 🙂
I got 587 points! How funny. Of course I don’t know those places, they just looked “right.”
Elizabeth, I have gone back through the archives and read your journey. While I couldn’t get the original site pages to pull up and read the beginning of your story, I have enjoyed reading about your life in Cornwall. I live in Atlanta, near Decatur, and with this week being in the 90’s and having spent last week with work in Charleston (97 degrees), I could use a little Cornwall coolness in my heat intolerant life. Thanks for sharing your story and posting such lovely photos.
I’m wondering what has happened to the blog Gifts of the Journey?? I keep clicking on the site looking for an updated post.
Hope you are doing okay. I miss your writing and pictures!!
I hope by now your Cornwall travels have included Warleggan. There is not much there besides a rather spooky church, but it is delightfully hidden and out of the way. If we had not been looking for family history sites we’d have never found it. Also, sir the sake of us Cornwall junkies I hope you’ll get back in the blogging business.