A Lockdown Cornwall Walk Plus Dogs and Bude

A safe landing above prior to having our daily walk from home.

Quite a dull morning but nice to get out of the house. "Shoulders back and swing your arms," as my dear old dad would say when I was a lolloping teenager - gosh, that was a long time ago. Anyway, the river is still flowing and bubbling along nicely.

Lots of green about, on the trees and the old walls.

This cottage knows its place in life, judging by its very own signpost: eighteen miles from Newquay and sixteen and a half miles from Truro.

Now it's time to get annoyed! The notice on the pole below clearly states a £500 fine for not cleaning up dog poo. But still some dog walkers don't pick up. Oh, and then there are the dog 'owners' who pick up the poo, put it into a plastic bag, and then leave the bag.

TOBY

How many years do they think that will take to dissolve?

Mustn't let it spoil the walk.

By the way I am very much in favour of dogs. Though we haven't a dog now we previously have had dogs for many years. Especially our border collie, Toby, he was so special.

Some colour to brighten the moment.

And finally for today a photo looking back at pre-coronavirus days. This is Cornwall's north coast at Bude. Looking forward to walking Cornwall's coastal path again. In the meantime stay safe and thanks for visiting my blog.

The Lake on a Sunshine Day - Plus Praise For the NHS

Another day, another day in isolation, other than our daily walk from home. Today we passed what looks like a lake but is the remnants of Cornwall's china clay industry.

The water cannot be used for any activity such as swimming or boating as it is too dangerous.

High on a hill is a wind turbine and a settling tank for china clay.

We wandered back to the lanes and roads leading towards home...

… passing by a country style cottage.

The rushing stream became our companion once more.

Then on an old bridge was a pebble on a bed of moss. But not a usual pebble or stone as it had been decorated in praise of UK's NHS - National Health Service.

There is a hash tag on the pebble #nhspebble. I checked this out but only a few entries so far on Twitter.

I think all of us in the UK, at this time, are in admiration of the courage and kindness of the nurses, doctors and staff of the NHS. 

Many houses have rainbows, such as the one below, in their windows as a symbol of support for the NHS heroes.

Miles and Miles of Smiles at a Cornwall Feast Week

As these are difficult times we are experiencing at the moment I thought I'd travel back to a time to when there seemed to be smiles and joy everywhere - well, at least in Cornwall.

So I travelled back in my time machine to a Feast Week in St.Austell.

Look at all of those smiling faces. Okay the guy below might not look too happy, but he was a contrast to everyone else.

Even the horse was smiling. You can't actually see his full smile but, trust me, his gnashers had a quite a grin.

Of course, some of the more distinguished characters had to hide their smiles - for some people there is a time and a place for everything.

Behind their expressions though there is a build up of smiles waiting to explode.

Now that is some happy hat below! You can see his usual smile in the very first photo of this post.

And the lady below has a lovely smile.

Strewth, even the girl with her leg held high in the air has a wobbly smile.

As for the strong arm of the law there must be at least an occasional chuckle amongst the litigation.

Historically, St Austell had its week of 'feasten' activities surrounding the celebration of the Feast of Saint Austol. Somehow though this fizzled out in 1946. Since then there have been attempts to resurrect the festival.

The photo below is from the Feast in 1910, though most of the participants don't look too happy about the proceedings!

As is apparent the town of St.Austell is named after St. Austol.

The saint had a great friendship with St.Muen (St. Mewan today) of the adjoining parish. St. Muen died on June 21st 627 and St. Austol died seven days later.

Keep smiling, stay safe. As my dear old dad used to say:

Smile awhile
and while you smile 
another smiles
and soon there's miles and miles of smiles.
And life's worth living because you smiled.

Walking and Kitesurfing in Cornwall

The kitesurfing photos, above and the five near the bottom of the post were snapped prior to the coronavirus lockdown.

The next few photos are a 'legal' walk from home. The first part was under the train viaduct I mentioned in my previous post. The train from London to Penzance zoomed overhead while we were there.

The next photo shows some of the brickwork.

A viaduct was first built here in 1858 but had to be replaced in 1899. It's quite a construction as it has ten piers and is 115 feet (35m) high and 720 feet (220m) long.

Below you might be able to make out the original stump of the first viaduct as well as the present version. The newer viaduct has much neater brickwork.

Continuing the walk, some nice old granite pieces in a garden.

An old gate that appears to lead nowhere.

Now back to the kitesurfing. It was a dull, blustery old day.

However, the kitesurfers were having fun.

The kitesurfing pics were taken at Pentewan Beach, Cornwall.

When we returned home from our walk I noticed that one of the geraniums in our porch has started to flower. A sign, perhaps, of better things to come!

Thanks for visiting my blog. Stay healthy.

A Lockdown Walk in Cornwall, Plus Looking Back At a Sandy Beach

It's lockdown, because of the coronavirus so, like everyone else in the UK, can only walk from home.

We feel lucky though as we can wander along some interesting roads - under the train viaduct and past an old roadside marker.

There is even a small river to keep us company.

Trees to the right and a mound in the background.

The river keeps rolling along playing it's magical tune.

Oh dear, that spoils the moment - a dumped vehicle from long ago. I can never comprehend how / why this happens.

A look inside. No, definitely can't drive it away!

We continued walking for quite a while but unfortunately not to the beaches which are now out of bounds.

Below is the beach at Carlyon Bay on an early morning visit a while back, before the virus got a hold.

Another photo looking in the opposite direction from the beach.

It appears the lockdown could well last for six months. The restrictions are a nuisance but the health of everyone is more important

Thanks for visiting my blog. The search button towards the top right of this blog will give access to many Cornish beaches and villages. Stay safe.