Yesterday was difficult, but I did perservere, I can be very determined. Gill sees it from a different standpoint, 'when you think you are determined really you are being stubborn', she has observed on more than one occasion. Today she may have had a point.
After yesterday's shenanigans the sensible thing to have done would have been to phone the Eden Project, changed the date of our visit, and relaxed in Eden Valley Holiday Park's tranquil wooded surrounding for a couple of days until the antibiotics worked their magic. But no, that's not what I did, I was determined (stubborn) and pushed on as planned, arriving at the Eden Project about 30 minutes before our timed entry at 11.30am. Having double dosed on the pills the previous night and taken another this morning I was convinced I would soon feel much better.
It is a fabulous place. A jaw dropping achievement when you consider the devastated landscape left by the clay pits when they closed in the 1990s.
The two huge biomes, one showcasing flora from the Mediterranean, the other tropical trees and plants, are wonderful.
But equally so are the acres of steeply terraced gardens surrounding them showcasing plants from more temperate zones.
I particularly loved the big vegetable garden. It took me back to the greener version of us from the early eighties, our Sarah Brown veggie era, my well thumbed copy of John Seymour's 'Self Sufficiency Handbook'. Our first Barratt house in West Lancashire, bought new, occupied quite a big plot. We developed a sizeable vegetable plot in the back garden. I honestly believed at that point that we might manage to adopt an alternative lifestyle.
It didn't happen. I got a job in Buxton. Growing your own 1000' up in the Pennines is a demoralising experience. The town does have allotments but it must be a struggle. Anyway once we had a family living a rural idyll on a shoestring was not an option. It took both of us working just to get by. Instead we took to heading south 'en famille' whenever we could to escape the Pennine gloom. We've continued ever since.
The Eden Project gives you hope, that through collective action and vision we can reverse environmental degradation.
Our plan was to visit one of the biomes, have lunch at the cafe nestled between the two, then head for the other one. The question was, which one first? We chose to head for the tropical zone first.
In the event it turned out to be exactly the wrong thing to do. A series of walkways zig-zag their way 155 metres upwards, emulating the differing microclimates in a tropical rain forest. It takes at least 45 minutes to complete the trail.
A temperature gauge at the top registered 100% humidity, which gave the air temperature of 39° a real feel of 47°. I reacted to this very badly. By the time we reached the open air I felt very poorly indeed and could only walk about 50 metres between rests and the slightest incline felt like climbing a mountain.
There was no other option but to cut our visit short, return to the van and head back to the campsite. Luckily tickets to the project allow you to make as many return visits as you wish anytime in the following 12 months. We will return next spring and see everything.
Back at the campsite we took stock of our predicament. Tempting as it was to cut our trip short, we were 300 miles from home, and we would need to find somewhere to break the journey. That meant two days of driving with me feeling quite ill. If we stuck to our original plan - a three night stay in Lyme Regis - it meant after a 100 mile drive tomorrow, I would have a couple of days to recuperate before the long drive home, time enough, we hoped, for the antibiotics to work. This seemed like the best plan.
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