The major project for my research this year was two weeks of wave basin testing at the Plymouth University COAST research facility. Since the models I was using were pretty big, I rented a van and drove them to the UK. I went from Dublin to Holyhead on the way there and Pembroke to Roslaire on the way back. This allowed me to drive through Wales both ways which was amazing.
I was staying on the 8th floor of a hotel for the two weeks I was there and had pretty nice views of the harbor and an abandon church.
Emily joined me at the end of the first week and we went to Cornwall for the weekend and stayed in Penzance. This was a great place to stay and explore the southwest peninsula. Our first stop was the Minack theatre and the beach next to it. Both were spectacular:
Then it was on to Lands End and Sennen Cove for some more great views
We then stopped at St. Ives which was a very nice touristy town with lots of art galleries and a couple of very nice beaches and a harbour.
The next morning we took a walk from Penzance to St Michael’s Mount which was also very striking. We happened to be there at low tide and was able to walk out to the island via the causeway.
During the second week, our friend Debbie, came and hung out in Plymouth with us and then joined us for our journey back to Ireland. We traveled across Wales over a couple of days and saw some great sights.
We caught the ferry in Pembroke, which is a great little town with an amazing castle. They were having an arts and crafts fair so admission was free.