Sand, Sea and Sunshine at Newquay, Cornwall

After we eventually found somewhere to park our car in Newquay we wandered slowly along the cliffs, all was well with the world.

The weather was perfect and there were flowers along the cliff tops. Lewinnick Lodge could be seen on the Pentire Headland.

Looking back the Headland hotel can just be seen,  to the right of the photo.

 If you like sand and lots of elbow room the Gannel Estuary must be paradise - but beware of the tides, this can also be a dangerous place to swim or wade.

We noticed this memorial bouquet amongst the shrubs. A reminder, perhaps, to appreciate our loved ones.

It's quite pleasant to sit overlooking the sand dunes.

We then retraced our steps.

There was a reminder not to fall off the cliffs. We were happy to comply with the request.

Getting nearer to the Headland Hotel, built in 1897, and the popular Fistral beach.

A closer look at the majestic Headland Hotel. It was was opened in June 1900 and has hosted royalty. King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra were the first to stay at the hotel in the early 1900s. The current Prince of Wales (Prince Charles) and Princess Ann have also enjoyed several visits - at least I presume they enjoyed themselves! Hard to tell what they are thinking at times.

Gradually the colours of the evening could be seen.

During the day, in the summer months, cars are parked along the road ... 

... this is because there are paths leading to Fistral Beach and also many hotels  - with the Headland Hotel in the far distance.

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

P.S. It's interesting how many people worldwide are interested in Cornwall. Here are the top 10 countries visiting my blog over the previous month.

(1) UK - I guess this is expected.

(2) USA

(3) Germany

(4) France

(5) Australia

(6) Canada

(7) Ireland

(8) Italy

(9) Russia - most unexpected!

(10) Netherlands

Flowers in my Cornwall Garden

As we had been away from home, for a break, on our return I wandered around our garden to see if it had survived okay without us and snapped a few photos.  The flowers in the photo below below are visitors, they often tumble over our neighbours fence to say hello.

The pansies seem to be quite shy and almost hidden away.

The dahlia, of course, are show offs - but we seem to have lost a few dahlia this year. They usually winter quite happily in the garden.

The gladioli are also very gaudy...

... as are the lilies.

The geraniums survived okay in their crib.

This is one of the fuchsia which stay in the garden all year round.

Passion flowers or Passiflora: they have spread so quickly over a garden wall. Lots of flowers this year.

We have several hydrangea, this one is from a cutting. The flower heads on the larger plants are quite heavy.

Finally something different - a peach tree! Well not quite but it may have peaches one day - perhaps. You may have seen my post Growing Apple Tree From A Pip. This is about how my wife grew an apple tree from a pip which has produced apples. She has now moved on to peaches! Not sure how many years I'll have to wait for any fruit, but I won't hold my breath. The apple tree took eight years!

 Thanks for visiting my blog.

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.

A walk at Boscastle, Cornwall

Following on from my previous post we were staying in Bude for a week. One of the well known nearby villages is Boscastle, so we headed that way.

Boscastle has an enormous car park (three hours for £3.70) which can get very busy. Fortunately, as it was  starting to drizzle with rain, we found a space quite easily.

We simply walked, following the river, until we reached the very old harbour wall. I snapped the photos as we walked. Fortunately the rain eased.

The harbour is a natural inlet with a very old harbour. The walls were built in 1584 by Sir Richard Grenville.

Grenville served as a Member of Parliament for Cornwall and was also a Sheriff of Cornwall in  in 1591.

Nearing the harbour now, with a few fishing boats in view.

More small boats - and the rain has nearly ceased.

A sighting now of the old harbour wall, also chains from another era.

Steps on the harbour wall. I wonder what tales they could tell.

It's possible to climb higher, even to the very top of the cliffs for some great views. On a previous visit I did manage to climb quite high.

There is also a new harbour wall.

Having sat on the old harbour wall for quite a while - along with a mug of tea, of course - we retraced our steps.

All is quiet in the harbour nowadays but 100 years ago it would have been heaving with activity.  Entrance into the harbour can be difficult and dangerous. In days gone by the old sailing ships had to be towed into the inlet. This was done with the help of hobbler boats, which were powered by eight oarsmen.

Today Boscastle is a busy tourist attraction and the boats to be seen are fishing boats and pleasure craft.

We returned to where we started, but then carried on walking through the Valency valley following the footsteps of the poet and novelist Thomas Hardy. 

As a young man in the 1870's Hardy spent time in the valley while courting his first wife, Emma Gifford.

When I think of Boscastle I always remember the strange coincidence we once had visiting the village see: The Coincidence Meeting At Boscastle, Cornwall.

Oh yes, nearly forgot, there was another coincidence I remember - or maybe it was  magic! Nothing to do with Boscastle though. I wrote a post on this: Magic Brought Us What We Wanted!

I'd better finish this post now before I get too carried away!  Thanks for visiting my blog. All good wishes ~ Mike.