{"id":533,"date":"2018-07-08T14:36:36","date_gmt":"2018-07-08T14:36:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travelbeing.com\/?p=533"},"modified":"2018-07-12T07:22:20","modified_gmt":"2018-07-12T07:22:20","slug":"nowhere-nowhere-herenow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travelbeing.com\/?p=533","title":{"rendered":"Nowhere is… Now Here or Here Now"},"content":{"rendered":"

Along my way, folks recommended a visit to Bristol (or was it Brighton?). At the Great Western Railway office in London’s Paddington Station, Mike the friendly representative asks, “What are you going to do in Bristol?” “Chill. Do some writing and reading.” His words burst a reply, “Readin’ and writin’?!! In Bristol?! Bristol’s a big city, like London. Oh no, try Cornwall. Less people. Beaches and countryside. There’s your ticket.”<\/p>\n

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Winding fairy stair light<\/p><\/div>\n

Universal guidance. I extend my hotel stay another day to research Cornwall. In a place called Penryn, a magical-looking holiday rental with a tropical plant-filled patio pops onscreen. Book it. Back at the station, “Hey, Mike I found a place in Cornwall, in a town called Penryn!” His eyebrows crinkle in puzzlement. “Penryn? Never heard of it.” I show him where it is on the map. Still never heard of it. But being close to Falmouth, he assures me it’s a good location. Oh for cryin’ out loud.<\/p>\n

From Paddington Station, it’s five and a half hours to Penryn. Less than an hour outside of London, the scenery eases into rolling<\/p>\n

terrain and farmland. The sun is shining through azure skies. Train rhythms are trance-like to me, so time flies…(or in this case, makes tracks). When the train reaches Penryn (two-bench) “Station”, I alone detrain. There looks to be a small car park, with no parked cars. My directions lead me to an empty two-lane road lined with scrub bushes, with more bushes behind those. First thought (said aloud): “Oh shite. I am on a road to Nowhere. I might as well be in backwoods Mississippi. What have I done?!” Second thought: “HEY, lady. Disperse with this negativity. There’s a reason you are right Here, right Now.” Out of the blue, a heavenly-scented breeze floats through the air. I look to find its origin but there are no flowering blooms in sight — a sweet sign. Nevertheless, internal chatter is still battling with the destination selection as I lug my suitcase up a never ending hill. At its crest, the battle is over. The ancient village reveals itself,<\/p>\n

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Penryn River<\/p><\/div>\n

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There is life in Penryn<\/p><\/div>\n

and its harbor beyond.<\/p>\n

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….life)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ebb<\/p><\/div>\n

The artsy apartment is<\/p>\n

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Flow\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (as in……<\/p><\/div>\n

just downhill from the town hall and clock tower. Inside is a welcome note with a handwritten map. At the local market, the clerk Simon asks, “You in town for the Sea Shanty Festival?”\u00a0 “What?!” I exclaim, my mouth agape in disbelief.\u00a0 Simon says…”Right. At the docks in Falmouth, just an easy mile or so walk from Penryn.”<\/p>\n

There’s a festival in town! Hooray, and up she rises!\u00a0\u00a0 Video: Sea Shanty<\/a><\/p>\n

From the sleepy village of Penryn, the lovely walk to Falmouth runs alongside the river (2.5 miles, turns out).<\/p>\n

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River Fal<\/p><\/div>\n

Just beyond the grand arched gateway, the cobblestone streets are buzzing with (60,000) festival fans. Song is in the air, and everyone is smiling! I head to the tourist centre and get the ‘shanty skinny’. The Falmouth International Sea Shanty festival is hosting sixty shanty groups this year and musicians play all over town at twenty venues! And while a fundraiser for RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) it’s free!\u00a0 Meandering through the streets of the waterfront and docks, I reach the Events Stage in front of the National Maritime Museum Cornwall. There’s only about nine rows of seats and I spy a single one (advantage of solo travel). A big brawny guy wearing a red satin dress is working the crowd, holding a bucket for<\/p>\n

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Ken & Gwen, seat mates<\/p><\/div>\n

donations. Gwen, my seatmate, informs me, “That’s Betty Stogs (local brewery’s famous ale), a festival institution. That man has been dressing like her for years and raises thousands of dollars for charity.”<\/p>\n

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Betty Stogs workin’ it at Events Stage<\/p><\/div>\n

Sea shanties were nautical work songs, usually having a call and response format. I didn’t think I was a sea shanty kind of gal…nor a sing-along audience participation person, nor a festival-goer without me’ dancing.<\/p>\n

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Land-locked Sailors from Salisbury<\/p><\/div>\n

But this is different. Sitting amidst a community of hundreds of people all singing (on and off key), clapping hands\u00a0 (in and out of rhythm), nary a care, enjoying life, carrying on a maritime heritage…this is something else. I feel… I am, honored.<\/p>\n

Then lyrics take hold of my heart —<\/p>\n

“Twill be long, old man, ere our glasses clink, Twill be long ere we grip your hand! — And we dragged him ashore for a final drink, Till the whole wide world seemed grand.” I wipe a wee tear from my eye as I try to sing along to the chorus: “For they marry and go as the world rolls back, they marry and vanish and die; but their spirit shall live on the Outside Track, as long as the years go by.”\u00a0 Outside Track<\/a><\/p>\n

So this is why I came to Penryn…<\/p>\n

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Sailing ships passing<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

“There’s nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be.”\u00a0 — John Lennon<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Along my way, folks recommended a visit to Bristol (or was it Brighton?). At the Great Western Railway office in London’s Paddington Station, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[14,12],"class_list":["post-533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ireland-uk-europe-2018","tag-cornwall-england","tag-penryn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/travelbeing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/travelbeing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/travelbeing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelbeing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelbeing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=533"}],"version-history":[{"count":58,"href":"https:\/\/travelbeing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":666,"href":"https:\/\/travelbeing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533\/revisions\/666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/travelbeing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelbeing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelbeing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}