JUNE 23 | Bodin, Cornwall
After seeing Stonehenge, we went to Cornwall and checked into a B&B there. Here is a picture of the “full English” complete with black pudding, yeck! (This was Roarke’s breakfast btw:))
That night we were all excited to go to ‘A Hole in the Wall Pub’ since we missed it by a few minutes the night before. We had checked online and everything to make sure they were still serving food. We get there and the cook had left early bc it was a slow day and she was having personal drama. We couldn’t believe we missed it again! We had left Beasley at the hotel bc he was in a happy doggie coma from running around Tintagel all day, so we decided to stay for a beer. We were the only customers in there except for an older local English gentleman. The bartender, James, was bored and I think he had as much fun showing us around the pub as we did. We told them about how we had ordered a black & tan in Hackney, and they had never heard of it and how in the USA that is the most popular English drink. James got so excited, he really wanted to make one and they both got so interested in it that we ordered one just so he could make it. It was hysterical the effort they put into it and the old guy leaning over the bar telling James he was pouring too fast, etc… I made a joke about, “How many Englishmen does it take to make a Black & Tan and they were laughing and the old guy says “Two!” Well James botched it pretty badly so he actually googled it and watched a video on youtube on how to make one. (pics below) He insisted on taking our email when we left to email us a pic when he gets it right.
Turns out the pub was an old debtor’s prison in the 1700′s. People who couldn’t pay their debts were locked up there. They have a list of the executed ppl outside and it is pretty long! The pub also has all kinds of things hanging from the low rafters. We thought it was all just decor the owner put up there or something, but James told us everything up there was traded to the bar by ppl to settle their tabs when they couldn’t pay. He started to show us some of the stuff they had from ppl since the bar has been around. There was a wooly mammoth tooth (super heavy!) and a captain’s sword from the early 20th century. (that’s the picture of me holding them both at the top of the post). There were tons of antique rifles too and Zulu spears. There were also many war medals, some Nazi medals from WWII. It’s called “A Hole in the Wall” bc they didn’t feed the prisoners, so if you got food it was bc your family came and passed it through a hole in the wall of the prison to you. Crazy history….but a great night!
