A Cornish Honeymoon: Part Three

On our penultimate day in Cornwall we headed down to Mevagissey to try our luck at a spot of mackerel fishing. Lots of 2 hour sea fishing trips leave from the quay-side but we opted for one lead by proper Cornish fisherman, Chris, who was a good laugh too. We had a nice group to fish with (a family from Essex and a bloke from Lancaster) who were all friendly and chatty (to be honest though, everyone we met on this holiday was friendly and chatty - one of the best things about getting out of London). Chris warned us that we'd catch a lot of mackerel so to kill some time he took us a little further out to see some seals. I took no decent pictures of this so you'll have to take my word for it, they were super cute.

Next Chris parked (?) the boat and we got fishin'. He really wasn't joking about the abundance of mackerel! Even I, on my first ever fishing trip, caught 12 of them! (12 which we could keep, I actually caught nearer to 20 but the others were too small and so went back into the sea.) Mitch also caught a lot of mackerel and was the only one in the boat to catch a cod! It was pretty informative too - Chris and my fellow fishing buddies had fishing stories to tell, we learnt that line-caught mackerel is better for the fish and their environment and that mackerel are sold to pubs and restaurants for just 2p per fish! Worth bearing that in mind the next time you order a mackerel starter for 5 quid!

 Just before we clambered back onto land we divided up the spoils and Chris gave us a quick demo on how to gut a mackerel. Seeing as we were covered in sea spray and smelt a little fishy, we went back to the farmhouse to prepare our fish and have a shower. I can proudly say that I now know how to gut a mackerel and successfully did so twice! Not going to lie, it was v.gross but because it was so fresh it really didn't smell all that bad, plus, it felt pretty cool to be able to learn a new skill and there's also the satisfaction of catching, cleaning & cooking your own dinner. With the fish prepared for our fish pie supper that night we went back to Mevagissey for ice cream and an evening stroll along the quay. I know I've said to before, and I realise being there on my honeymoon definitely rose-tinted everything, but I loved that little fishing town. I fully intend to go back out of season and see it in the winter - bet it's still beautiful. Stroll and musing about dream homes over, we went back to the farmhouse to make pie. I say 'we' but Mitch did most of it and he did a bloody good job. It was delicious :)

Our last day started with a first class breakfast (grilled mackerel & hardboiled eggs on homemade bread - so spoilt!) and was spent at Pentewan beach: toes in the sand, paddling in the sea, looking for crabs, posing like the little mermaid (me not Mitch), enjoying some food at the Driftwood bar, talking about the last 5 days and the days, weeks and months to come. Believe me when I say, I really did not want to leave. We'll be back Cornwall!