Tintagel Castle

This is where we came and visited on Saturday (today in blipland)

Tintagel Island faces the full force of the Atlantic.And boy so did we!, not only was it VERY windy up on the top, it decided to bucket it down aswell. On the mainland itself, the gaunt remains of the medieval castle represent only one phase in a long history of occupation. ITs quite hard to picture how the buildings stood and how even people managed to live in such small rooms. I think we're quite spoilt now. Even before Richard, Earl of Cornwall, built his castle in 1233, Tintagel was already associated in legend with the conception of King Arthur by Uther Pendragon, the result of his seduction of Queen Igraine. Indeed Richard's castle was probably deliberately built to reinforce his connections with Arthur and the ancient rulers of Cornwall. This Arthurian connection was later renewed by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, in his Victorian 'Idylls of the King'.

After a period as a Roman settlement and military outpost, Tintagel became a trading settlement of Celtic kings of Cornwall during the 5th and 6th centuries. Legend has it that one of these was King Mark, whose nephew Tristan fell in love with Yseult (or Isolde). Their doomed romance is part of Tintagel's story.

The remains of the 13th century castle are breathtaking. Steep stone steps (very slippery in the rain, stout walls and rugged windswept cliff edges encircle the great hall, where Richard, Earl of Cornwall, once feasted. Which is what this picture is, ITs the remains of the side wall of the kitchens and banquet halls.

We also made it back down the steep slippery steps onto the cove and went inside merlins cave. Right though the other side!, with the help of the lights of the phones we could see the lil hiding holes of the smugglers..

Just above merlins cave is another cave which is all bricked up now (it was a silver mine, so can understand why its been bricked up lol)

Very tired but quite fun day today.