retiredmartin

It’s a flying visit to my sister, and a first trip to Falmouth without a beer in that town’s wonderful pubs. It looked quiet; even the Harbour Lights chippy was shut for winter.  You can’t really visit the ‘front without a takeaway from there. Same great views though.

I did get the chance to explore Camborne for the first time, and was pleasantly surprised.  Alongside Redruth and a host of adjacent villages, it’s probably the least visited bit of Cornwall, despite some decent attempts at tin mine tourism.

The entry into town is through the type of terraces that greet you in Ebbw Vale and Merthyr, with the odd colourful touch.  It’s a long way from Falmouth but like it’s Welsh mining counterparts it has some redeeming features – a pleasing industrial landscape, an enjoyable good country parks, and a Wesleyan Methodist legacy.

And like several of the Valleys towns, the best pub in a town seemingly dominated by small sports bars is the Wetherspoons, which dominates the main shopping street.

I though it one of the most impressive Spoons I’ve been to, and good evidence that all their pubs don’t look the same.  The mining heritage is beautifully displayed on the walls.

A decent beer range had a better local flavour than the disappointing St Austell Spoons, and a Harbor Lights beer on hand-crayoned pump got less hazy and better as it went down (NBSS 3).  It was a little too early for the Gwaf Tan (5.8%) that had impressed in Penzance.

The adjoining hotel seemed a bit of an act of faith, though at £39 at the moment I guess it will attract more than the odd brave holiday maker.

If you do come here, I strongly recommend the one other must-see Camborne building.  Dax Delicatessen produced a wonderful lunch from it’s outstanding collection of Spanish hams, sea food and Portuguese pastries, at a bargain price.

The other Beer Guide entries around here are, as in the Valleys, tucked in tiny villages catering as much to dining trade as locals. Piece appears to be a hamlet of about 10 houses, tucked between Carnkie and Bosleake, which themselves probably don’t appear on some maps.  It’s gorgeous, if a bit too olde-worldy cluttered for some. The Skinners honey beer was a brave choice, but first out of the pump was very tasty (NBSS 3). Apart from the Kronenberg beer mats it was perfect.

That was the good stuff.  There was some bad beer which I’ll write about when I can put a gloss on it, and avoid a lynching.