With a forecast of all day rain and Craig whining about a sore knee, we took our time getting up and going yesterday (Monday).  In fact we didn't venture out of the house until about noon when we walked down to town center to accomplish a few chores.  In particular we needed to pick up a new SIM card for England, some laundry detergent to get started on the ever growing pile of dirty clothes, a loaf of bread for lunches, and some pasties for dinner.  We started at the EE store, our mobile provider of choice in England, and were told they don't sell prepaid cards but we should just go by the local Tesco convenience store and get one there.  This seemed odd but happily coincided with our search for detergent, so items one and two accomplished.  For the pasties, a calzone-type pastry filled with a mushy meat something, we stopped at Rowe's Cornish Bakers which advertises itself as your local "World Pasty Champion Winners 2 Years in a Rowe."  Fair enough.

We purchased the champion pasties and then walked back home, stopping by Stone's Bakery for a small loaf of their artisanal white country bread.  Oh, and Craig broke bad by picking up a slice of carrot cake.  We managed most of the outing in a lull between rainfalls, just getting a little wet briefly once.  In the afternoon we completed a few more chores, including making a tee time tomorrow at the Mullion Golf Club.  We did this in spite of a forecast of 20 to 25 mph winds, gusting to 38.  Could be daunting on a links course with zero trees but we figured this is classic links golf weather and besides, we can always buy more golf balls.

Our tee time today was not until 1:10 so we again slept in a little and then began the 17-mile (or 35-minute) drive to Mullion in time to get there by noon.  The plan was to eat lunch there before the round as their café was reputed to be pretty solid.  We did and it was.  We began our round in the forecast wind, looking to the left and the right.  This is because the first hole crosses both the 2nd and 18th fairways.  This is not the only hole on which that phenomenon occurs but we never felt threatened and graciously waited for a couple of ladies on 18 to clear through before wildly swinging at our balls.  

The course and the round were a lot of fun and while it was cold and windy, traipsing up and down hills kept us warm.  We had decided to go the hand trolley route rather than renting a buggy in part because of the hope it would warm us up and have the benefit of good exercise.  As it turned out we decided that we had made a good choice as we had difficulty finding our way from hole to hole walking and with a buggy we might still be out there, wandering the hills and looking for tee boxes.  The most interesting parts of Mullion Golf Club are holes 6, 7 and 8, which are off in a corner of the course and go downhill almost to the level of the adjacent Church Cove beach.  Hole 6 is particularly fun because it is a short par 4 that is severely downhill.  As long as you don't hit it into the brambles on the right (from which there is no return although there do appear to be some tunnels into the brambles), you can get your tee shot pretty close to the green.  The next hole runs right up almost to the beach and the 8th is a par 3 that takes you along a small cliff overlooking the beach.  To cap off the views afforded by the waves crashing on the beach and the rocks that form its boundary there is a church on one side of the cove where a number of scenes in Poldark were filmed.  That beach also got its share of screen time we are told.

We fought through the back nine and finished the round in time to have a beer in the clubhouse.  This was notable as it was Phyllis' first encounter with that quintessential English experience, warm beer.  She was not pleased but took solace in the fact that she had only asked for a half pint.  We made our way back up the narrow roads to Falmouth, stopping only for some grocery shopping at a Tesco Superstore.  Tomorrow we will rest.