A Short Walk to Porthpean, Cornwall

My wife had an appointment at our local hospital, so I wandered off for a short walk. As for the camellia above this is from our garden.

I had a choice of interesting places to visit and decided to head off in the direction of Porthpean.

I soon reached the Porthpean sailing club. It was good to see a blue sky even though it was quite chilly.

I wandered onto Porthpean beach, all was quiet and peaceful.

A couple of photos next, taken from the beach.

There's a sign about Cornwall's Crumbling Cliffs.

A look at those cliffs.

I started on my return to the hospital passing through Lower Porthpean.

There are some pleasant flowers in the gardens of some very desirable properties.

I noticed an old milestone with the old spelling of St. Austell i.e. Austle not Austell.

I was soon back at the hospital to pick up my wife and return home. On the way we spotted a host of golden daffodils.

Thanks for visiting my blog, take care ~ Mike.

SEARCHING FOR GOOD LUCK AT CARLYON BAY, CORNWALL

Gosh, a pleasant day, the rain had  ceased, though a few puddles remained. We decided to have a short walk along the beach at  Carlyon Bay.

It was quite chilly, but who cares when there is treasure to be found - well, perhaps.

I had recently read a book 'Seagulls in the Attic' by Tessa Hainsworth, who has started a new life in Cornwall. 

Tessa writes how she likes to find cowrie shells on the beach. She writes, "I love these tiny pinkish shells, no bigger than my little fingernail. They're lucky shells, the Cornish equivalent to the Irish four-leaf clover."

On a previous visit to Carlyon Bay my wife and I found dozens of small pink shells. So we set off to find some more. It's always useful to have a handy supply of good luck, you never know when it might come in handy!

I soon found a pink shell but little else.

The beach was quite empty, the sand smooth, untouched and nothing had been washed ashore.

A walk on the untouched sand is, by itself, good luck.

We enjoyed the far end of the beach, the peace and the silence.

The rocks and cliffs have their own special beauty. The comings and goings they must have witnessed over thousands of years.

Eventually we retraced our footsteps.

Looking inland, numerous enormous rocks were piled high. They were originally to be used as a breakwater when there was talk of the beach being redeveloped with apartments and shops. But this has never come to fruition.

We made our way back to our car via the puddles.

I did manage to pick up a few bits and pieces along the beach, but nothing too exciting. They will, however, be added to my collection of bits and pieces labelled 'you never know when these might come in handy.'

Thanks for visiting my blog

Hope you lots of good luck luck ~ 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.

Photos of Bude Cornwall

While staying in the Bude area, on Cornwall's north coast, the nearest beach to us was Crooklets. Lots of damp sand at low tide and quite a few beach huts all standing neatly to attention.

Not somewhere we lingered for long but the Café did have a tempting rum and raisin ice cream.

From here we often walked across Summerleaze Down, with it's views out to sea. No, that isn't me in shorts and and a pink hat!

SOMETHING DIFFERENT

There is a memorial, photo as above, on the cliff top which might interest USA readers. The wording isn't too clear so I have copied it out in full.

"In grateful and fond memory of the men of the American 2nd Ranger Battalion who were billeted with local families in order to complete their training on the cliffs and beaches of Bude for the D Day mission attacking the German Coastal battery at Pointe du Hoc high on the Normandy cliffs on 6th June, 1944.

They were led by Colonel James Rudder one of America's most decorated soldiers. Although they sustained heavy losses the attack was a complete success".

Rangers lead the Way

We will remember them

Back to walking across Summerleaze Down. Looking from the cliffs the Bude Sea Pool can be seen - as below.

Another  landmark on a high point of the Down is the flagpole in the next photo.

The flagpole is actually a mast of the Bude ketch Elizabeth, which was wrecked on the rocks beneath Summerleaze Point on February 12th, 1912

A few Bude houses

On the sand two RNLI vehicles - The Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

Next two photos of fishing bits and pieces.

A view across to Compass Point.

Now we have the Castle Bude a Grade 2 listed building built in 1830 by Sir Goldsworthy Gurney. It is now a heritage centre with free admission.

This is the 18th century Nanny Moore's Bridge. I wrote a post about the bridge back in 2019 - see here.

And that's it for today - other some artwork on the kitchen wall where we were staying and, yes, it was a Happy Place for us - as the blue artwork suggests.

Thanks for visiting my blog. 

All good wishes ~ Mike.

Bude Cornwall 18 Photos

We had an opportunity to stay in Bude on Cornwall's north coast - so we did!

I quite like the area as it has lots of sand. So much so they built a canal to transport the sand - way back in 1825.

The sand, seemingly, is full of minerals and was used by farmers to condition and enhance the soil.

As the sign above states rails were built to transport the sand to the canal. A few of the rails remain today.

The canal is now used for pleasure pursuits.

You never know what you might see on, or in, the canal...

Some of the the canal's machinery is still 0n view.

Below is what would have once been the Bude end of the canal.

Looking across the damp sand, Chapel Rock can just seen. 

A better view of Chapel Rock, which is linked to a breakwater to protect the shoreline. 

Lots more sand below, looking inland from the sea.

A view of the canal wall with houses in the far  background.

Towards the end of the canal there is lovely pink cottage.

If you walk to the back of the cottage there are some pleasant flowers. 

Keep on walking and there is a coastal path leading to the top of the cliffs, with far reaching views.

At the top of the cliffs is Compass Point, a former coastguard lookout built in 1840 and  moved to it's current position in 1880. 

In the far, far distance can be seen some of the (UK) Government Communications Headquarters. I zoomed in with my camera.

There is a much easier way to communicate though, use a Chatty Bench, like the one below. As the sign on the bench says: Sit here if you don't mind people sitting to have a chat.

What a good idea, we saw several of these benches on our walks. There are so many lonely people. Reminded me of the old Carole King song.

There are so many lonely people in the world
So many lonely people who must cry
Just like you and me
They love so carelessly
And let their dreams just pass them by.

On that note I'll finish today's post. There will be more of the Bude area on my next post.

Thanks for visiting my blog ~ Mike.