Fowey - Bookends and Basking Sharks

We left Dartmouth horrifically early and therefore I was still in my pyjamas when mum spotted a dark shape in the water. 

“What’s that?” she said. Dad obligingly turned the boat around but I was sceptical.

“It’s only gunna be a buoy or something...” How wrong was I?

For the first time in our lives, my mother and I saw a basking shark. 

I was absolutely ecstatically running round the deck (in my pyjamas) trying not to swear in front of my parents. (“Sugar me! Oh, sugar!”) It was, in the archaic sense of the word, awesome. This absolutely HUGE shark right near our boat. It was simply amazing.

Then the engine failed.

Just about got it going again and as we were coasting off Plymouth, we saw ANOTHER basking shark. There’s me in hysterics in my pyjamas again. This time, we must have been closer, we saw a hint of its huge white mouth.

 So two basking sharks in one day! We were incredibly lucky.

Then the engine failed again.

Bookends of Fowey

This small and intimate shop contains a lot of local literature and a large nautical section. The woman there picked up on my love for books and we spent a good while chatting about them. 

     As you walk through the door there are reams and reams of Daphne de Maurier books. She lived in Fowey, and her son still lives in the quirky white house – we were not moored far from there. There’s a shop dedicated to her next to Bookends – perhaps I should have gone in there, perhaps I should read these authors I encounter in these different places!

     Bookends had a good collection of smaller publication journals of local history and legends – I must say I was tempted by some of the collections of Cornish myths and fables.

     I felt that this shop – though it was quite nice – could have had a wider selection of stock. A nice little shop that would be good for someone to find a book to read as they holiday.

Bookends Too

The second hand bookshop’s younger sister shop, Bookends Too is a bright shop stocking a variety of new books, again small, focusing on local interests – and de Maurier again. As well as books, the shop sells stationary items and cards. The service is very friendly.

I was slightly disappointed with the bookshops of Fowey although it’s such a lovely town.