E: 08/03 Sunday Times Where Was I? £1,000 gift voucher from Iconic Luxury Hotels

jacknutter

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/travel/where-was-i/

The clue

I’m frustrated. There’s a rich vein of history to be worked here. But so far I’ve seen nothing. I blame the shifting sands of my friend’s priorities. We’ve already cancelled a walk along the northwestern edge of a former RAF station, opened in 1941. Part of it covers the site of an earlier munitions factory. It’s one of many signs of human exploitation in the landscape, which in places resembles Swiss cheese. Friend changed his mind when I told him where we’d walk. “I have no head for heights,” he said — and turned a tin ear to my sighs.

Now he’s quibbling about my second stop, two and a half miles northeast of the airfield. It’s a stone cross — first documented more than 1,060 years ago — that stands near an ancient, half-buried chapel. Both are named after a saint who is said to have come from a large island northwest of here.

I’ve flagged today as the perfect time to visit. But Friend doesn’t see it as a black-and-white issue. He says that he’s too hungry to care. “Given your pasty face, you should eat too,” he says.

So I relent, and he drives me to a small town between the cross and the airfield whose population swells each summer. We gorge ourselves on a local delicacy before he leads me a long way out onto the town’s main attraction. Then he starts to undress. “Care to join me?” he asks.

No. Some last-minute research has uncovered details of several disasters near this spot and now is a good moment to search for them. It’s time to salvage some interest from the wreck of my day.

The questions

1. What was the name of the former RAF station?  think this is RAF Perranporth

2. After which saint is the cross named? think this is Saint Piran

The prize

The Iconic Luxury Hotels group is offering the winner a £1,000 gift voucher to be spent at one of its five hotels. Palatial Cliveden in Berkshire sits in a vast National Trust garden on the banks of the Thames, while Chewton Glen, above, is a Relais & Châteaux hotel on the edge of the New Forest with a spa, 14 treehouse suites and a James Martin cookery school. In the Cotswold village of Broadway, the Lygon Arms has coaching- inn charm, while 11 Cadogan Gardens and the Mayfair Townhouse are the group’s two London properties. Each property offers luxurious accommodation in exceptional locations. For more details see iconicluxuryhotels.com.

The gift voucher must redeemed before March 1, 2024, subject to availability and excluding July, August and December, as well as public holidays.

Answer the questions by the end of Wednesday, March 8. One entry per person. Full terms and conditions apply, and your information will be used in accordance with our privacy policy at newsprivacy.co.uk.

Moneybot

Thanks

Just to ask is @Etch ok? Just they usually post these and have done for yonks

serenity2012

as long as someone posts it what does it matter. I'm grateful to the op. 

eyeballpaul

I'll wait for Etch to post.  He seems very reliable with his answers

Lanvean

There is no doubt about the correctness of the answers. I find it curious that this Sunday Times competition was available on Saturday afternoon.

Moneybot

serenity2012 said:

as long as someone posts it what does it matter. I'm grateful to the op. 

It matters because certain competitions have long term regular posters and this one has been posted by the same board member for as long as I can remember.

For them not to have posted could mean they are unable to for some reason or the op has jumped in on the competition. 

Etch

Hello everyone - don't worry, I'm fine. Surprised to see that the Where Was I? puzzle was available so early on. I agree with jacknutter's answers - RAF Perranporth and Saint Piran.