Throw back: Adventure in Cornwall: Hitchhiking Falmouth

July 05, 2019

Throw back: Adventure in Cornwall: Hitchhiking Falmouth - Lands end /Sennen 2011

This was years ago—2011, to be exact. My Latvian friend, Baiba, who I met during her exchange student days from Riga, was feeling down about leaving this beautiful part of England without experiencing any proper tourist sightseeing. So, naturally, she dragged me out to go hitchhiking. Her reasoning? Apparently, her image of me was that of an "adventurer and camper" (well... kinda 😅). She trusted that I’d give her a taste of this lifestyle.

Looking through these photos now, I burst into a mix of cry-laughter. I can’t help but remember how grumpy I was at the start and how we were both in stitches over her very questionable outfit choice: white pants! Who goes camping in white pants? I teased her endlessly about it. We laughed at ourselves—one of us looking "posh," the other a self-proclaimed Supertramp. At least Baiba looked great for the photos. Meanwhile, I looked like a true adventurer in my trusty comfy clothes.

She absolutely adored Sennen Cove, and honestly, I was just happy to see her happy. Back in 2009, I had lived in Sennen for a month and visited it as a traveler before that, so I knew the area well enough to show her around and share a few stories. Sennen is right next to the famous landmark Land’s End, a must-visit spot for anyone in Cornwall. We strolled past the house I used to live in, found a little hideout on the cliffs to share an absurdly large bottle of cider (classic British cider—yum!), and spent the day wandering around, snapping silly photos.

By the time dinner rolled around, the evening chill had set in, and we were on the hunt for a wind-free spot. We ended up in the weirdest little corner, which was either a fisherman’s workspace gone rogue or just a creative chaos of beach junk. Baiba loved how bizarre it all looked—a mishmash of yellow rubber boots, fishing nets, and odd bits and bobs I couldn’t even name.

We cooked sausages and paired them with tomatoes for our very classy campsite dinner. The whole scene was so hilariously random, and Baiba couldn’t stop laughing at the absurdity of it all. It wasn’t the most glamorous adventure, but it was uniquely ours.

The next super plan fail was - Baiba had no sleeping gear, she somehow imagined it will be alright sleeping just in a warm cloth. Unlucky to us we didn't check the weather. It was a super hot summer day on leaving, but the night turned into the freezing cold (life by the ocean) and we woke up in a puddle.

Unexpectedly it was the worst day. We were completely soaked by 7am. We walked by the road towards the biggest city from Sennen to Penzance. I didn't dare to hitchhike because we were soaking wet rats and I said that I feel nobody is going to pick up us looking like this. To a surprise, an elderly cornish couple actually stopped and took us in. Drove to Pencanze, we found the only open pub... and ordered a tea with milk! English life!

Then the best - none of us had enough money to buy the train ticket back to our student town. Neither we had a smartphone with facebook on. Somehow I contacted (now I have no idea how?) with my friend and coursemate Harriet who I knew has a car. Shockingly, she came to pick up us at enjoyed laughing about our dum trip.

We offered to make her the best omelette breakfast ever. Harriet saved our cold freezing asses and saved the day! That was the thing in England it was super positive to have a laugh at yourself.

Looking back at these photos I laugh because I remember the dynamic we both had. I and Baiba shared a very strange friendship, we were so different personalities (as you might see), but somehow we really loved spending time together. After this trip, she went back to Latvia, I joined later and in Latvia, we spent an awesome summer at her beach city going on other unplanned and not well thought through adventures

Cornwall: https://www.visitcornwall.com/

Falmouth University: https://www.falmouth.ac.uk/