AN EASY RIVERSIDE WALK TO ST. CLEMENT, CORNWALL

We went for a short walk along the tidal Tresillian River, our intention being to visit the lovely village of St. Clement and its fine old church. This is about 3 miles from the city of Truro.

It's a pleasant walk - simply follow the river path. The tide was on the way out on our visit. 

On the right is we passed a small lake. All was silent other than a dog barking in the distance.

I'm always fascinated by the old Cornish dry walls. In the example below there are sections of vertical and horizontal stones.

The gate below indicated that we were approaching St.Clement, which is set in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The village backs onto the river.

Our first sight of the village. A few cottages have a prime view overlooking the river ...

… and they have their own access to the river.

Turning right into the village the tower of the church of St. Clement comes into view. The old name was the church of Moresk.

Strange to see the traditional red phone box. It seems out of place - though it's reasonably up to date and can be used for e-mails and texts.

There are more old cottages on the approach to the church ...

… plus Church Cottage with the church tower in the background.

 It is believed that the church was built in 1249 but was enlarged in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

A quick look inside the church.

We now followed our footsteps back to our car passing the riverside cottages ...

 ... and The Old Vicarage, dating back to the 1500s, but not as it once was! It's now an upmarket Bed & Breakfast emporium.

The tide was on its way out and the river was turning quite muddy - so lots of free food for the birds. All in all a very pleasant walk, which can be extended by following the local footpaths - perhaps to Malpas.

Parking the car:

We parked at the end of Tresillian village (3 miles east of Truro). We were driving from the St. Austell area, on the left, there is a big car dealership, after this is a pull-in off the main A390 - just before the sign as shown in the photo below. There is room for about five cars - if everyone parks neatly. otherwise there is some parking on the opposite side of the road.

Hope you have a good week ahead. To close the post a few flowers my wife received from our son.

All good wishes ~ Mike.

PENTEWAN, CORNWALL IN THE 1900s and TODAY

Something a little different today. The photo above is of Pentewan, Cornwall showing part of the harbour, circa 1900. So, over one hundred years later, I tried to find the exact same scene. The photo below is what I managed to snap.

I climbed a small path (safely) up the side of the cliff and eventually found the very same cottage, as the photo above shows. The skyline also seems very much the same. I tried to go higher so as to exactly match the 1900 photo but there were too many bushes and trees to take a photo.

I did, however, snap a photo from ground level to show where the cottage is positioned.  Unfortunately another property has since been built partly in front of the cottage spoiling the view. I placed a red dot on the cottage above.

The house directly below the red dot is the old Harbour Master's residence.

In the late 1800s, and early 1900s the harbour would have been full of tall sailing ships exporting local china clay, metals and the like all over the world. That is all in the past now as the harbour is landlocked.

Pentewan  nowadays is a quiet village during the winter but gets a fair share of holiday makers and tourists during the summer, spring and autumn seasons.

The photos above and below show how Pentewan looks nowadays - on a sunshine day. Most of the holiday makers must have been on the beach!

... or, there again, maybe they weren't on the beach, as it looks so quiet on Pentewan Beach.

Of course, it's not always sunshine at Pentewan!

That's all for today. All good wishes ~ Mike.

A SHORT GREEN WALK

We walked from home and mentioned that the  dahlia, in our garden, aren't quite as good this year. We headed towards a nearby lane, passing by this gate, and the old concrete items on display - including a miller's wheel perhaps.

There was a dampness in the air. Perfect for the moss to thrive on the old walls. 

A few remaining wild flowers are far from their best but they still have a certain appeal.

I didn't expect to see one of the little people, so soon on our walk, they usually hide away. 

A small stream wriggles along the lane - with more greenery on display.

There were more shades of green on an old wall.

A path into the woods looked tempting.

A few raindrops in the wind, but they soon went away.

The small stream again.

You never know what you may find on a walk, if you have time to stand and stare. You might even see two decorated chairs in the undergrowth - most unexpected!

These two creatures sat happily on a wall.

A few wild flowers lingered on.

Back at home, after our walk, this fuchsia looked okay ...

... as did the dahlia hiding amongst the hydrangea leaves.

Another day, another (short) walk. Hope you have a happy week.

Good wishes ~ Mike.

THE OLD CORNISH STORY OF THE WHITE HARE

Hello again, it's been a strange old week for me and I haven't been able to get out far with my camera.

The photos are from a short walk I managed along the Gover Valley. You may remember a few weeks back I walked the full Gover Valley walk.

This time the small river was much more attractive, you could almost hear the piskies going about their work. That is, of course, if you believe in piskies.

Anyway, today I'll fill the post with a traditional Cornish story from the early 1800's. The story is in it's original form.

THE OLD STORY OF THE WHITE HARE

It is a very popular fancy that when a maiden, who has loved not wisely but too well, dies forsaken and broken hearted, she comes back to haunt her deceiver in the form of a white hare. 

This phantom follows the false one everywhere, mostly invisible to all but him. It saves him from danger, but invariably the white hare causes the death of the betrayer in the end.

Here is one such story told in the old fashioned way.

A large landed proprietor engaged a fine, handsome young fellow to manage his farm, which was very extensive as well as a high class one.

When the young farmer was duly settled in his new farmhouse, there came to live with him, to take care of the management of the dairy, a peasant's daughter. She was handsome, and of a singularly fine figure, but entirely without education.

The farmer became desperately in love with this young creature, and eventually their love passed all the bounds of discretion. It became the policy of the young farmer's family to put down this unfortunate passion by substituting a more legitimate and endearing object. After a long trial, they thought they were successful and the young farmer married.

Many months had not passed when the discharged dairymaid was observed to suffer from illness, which, however, she constantly spoke of as nothing; but knowing dames saw too clearly the truth. One morning there was found in a field a newly born babe, strangled. The unfortunate girl was at once suspected as being the parent, and the evidence was soon sufficient to charge her with murder. She was tried, and chiefly by the evidence of the young farmer and his family, convicted of, and executed for, the murder.

Everything now went wrong in the farm, and the young man suddenly left it and went to another part of the country.

Still nothing prospered, and he gradually took to drink to drown some secret sorrow. He was frequently on the road by night than by day; and go where he would, a white hare was constantly crossing his path. The white hare was often seen by others, almost always under the feet of his horse; and the poor terrified animal would go like the wind to avoid the strange apparition.

One morning the young farmer was found drowned in a forsaken mine; and the horse, which had evidently suffered extreme terror, was grazing near the corpse. Beyond all doubt the white hare, which is known to hunt the perjured and the false-hearted to death, had terrified the horse to such a degree that eventually the rider was thrown into the mine-waste in which he was found.

THE END

Thanks for visiting my blog, hope you have a good week ahead. Good wishes ~ Mike.