Walking The Cornish Lanes Looking for January Flowers and Other Things of Interest

'Twas a dull morning, a little drizzly, but I always feel I need a walk so we decided to head for the lanes near Trenance, St.Austell. There's rarely any traffic and perhaps I would see some colour in the hedgerows.

Well I did find some flowers as can be seen by my photo above. Yes, they are daffodils - very early, even for Cornwall.

It sure looked like rain!

Gradually the greyness lifted and it was possible to look across the fields. The view would have been a better if the hedgerows weren't quite so high.

Yes, the grey must have been frightened away as the sky turned blue. There's a wind turbine in the distance.

This is/was china clay country as can be seen below. The hill is made from the spoils of the china clay industry. Nature has taken over and made the scene quite pleasant.

It started getting dull again. That's Cornwall for you, travel a short distance and the weather can be quite different.

Water was gushing onto the road from the recent heavy rain ...

… and joined a small river ...

… which gradually became wider.

We then came to the bridge across the Trenance Road built in 1859.

Actually there are two bridges as can be seen in the photo below. The second bridge was built in 1899.

Trains thunder across the Gover Valley via the bridge and also a viaduct. This is used by trains travelling from London Paddington to Penzance and vice versa.

From here we followed a footpath to take us down to the valley.

Looking south are houses and the block of flats - the only high rise flats in Cornwall - I mentioned in a previous post. 

That's it for today - keep on walking!

See also: 

33 Photos: A Circular Walk Based On Gover Valley, St.Austell, Cornwall

Illuminations and lights at The Lost Gardens of Heligan

If you go down to the woods today you're sure of a big surprise … no, not teddy bears but illuminations at The Lost Gardens of Heligan.

We went to see the illuminations in the hours of darkness and how different the gardens and trees looked from a daytime visit.

Parts of the walk were quite creepy as there were sounds complimenting the illuminations.

The old walls and buildings were transformed.

I spotted this figure from the past still attending the plants. Was he real or a figure of imagination?

The illuminations were created by an international renowned light artist Ulf Pederson.

Ulf's description as to what he has created at the Lost Gardens of Heligan is to "have transformed the act of looking into a physical experience - where audiences frequently find themselves immersed in a sensational play of light and colour as the space metamorphoses into something unique and magical".

I enjoyed the visit, the lights and displays as a whole.

I most liked the transformations of the trees and bushes as they seemed to take on a whole new persona. 

All in all it was a lovely evening, especially as the frequent rain we have been having in Cornwall, stayed away. 

Even a few feathers floated across the pathways.

And to finish with, something black and white - as we made our way back to our car.

I have made several posts, with photos, about the Lost Gardens of Heligan, here are a few:

Lost Gardens of Heligan - Voted UKs Top Visitor Garden

The Lost Gardens of Heligan In July :16 Photos 

The Lost Gardens of Heligan: 18 Photos of Farm Animals, Plants and Jungle

2020 - Happy New Year (Bledhen Nowydh Da in Cornish)

Another year - wishing you happiness and success.

As Albert Einstein is quoted as saying:
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.

Bledhen Nowydh Da* 
Mike

*Happy New Year in Cornish

Perranporth Beach Loved By Surfers, Bodyboarders, Beach Lovers, Children and Dogs

The beach at Perranporth, Cornwall seems to go on forever. A bit of an exaggeration perhaps, but the golden sand stretches for at least three miles accompanied by clear water.

I'm always happy walking on a beach - though there was one time I wasn't - but that's another story for perhaps another time.

Perranporth is on Cornwall's north Atlantic coast and is popular with surfers, bodyboarders and the like. There can be some good surf and waves. 

The beach is also liked by dogs - as you will see by the photos.

The beach is dog friendly and they are allowed on the sand all the year round. There is one restriction though during July and August when dogs must be kept on a lead from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. And, of course, any dog mess must be cleared away by doggie humans.

The RNLI are on duty during the main busy times of the year. Their website gives dates and times when they are present on Perranporth beach.

As you wander along the sand there are sand dunes behind the beach.

Their are also cliffs and rocks depending on how far you walk.

The photo below shows the most popular part of the beach, especially in the summer months. Most people don't like to walk much further. There are tyre marks on the sand as the beach had just been cleaned.

If you keep walking around the bend or headland shown below you will find that ... 



… the beach continues and there are lots more sand dunes. 

From the lovely stretch of beach above I headed back to where I started ... the dogs were still having fun!

See also:
Miles and Miles of Beaches at Perranporth Cornwall Bring Miles and Miles of Smiles

Visiting St.Austell and Charlestown Over the Christmas Period

My gosh, Christmas Day is now a memory, but it'll be pleasant to remember the day with fondness at some future time.

I'm writing this on Boxing Day. 

How Boxing Day came about is not absolutely clear. The most popular thought is that this was the day when servants and tradesmen would collect their Christmas Boxes i.e.money tips for good service - from the gentry or their employers.  These money gifts or 'boxes' were mentioned in Samuel Pepys' diary entry for December 19th 1663, so the tradition goes way back.

In days of old churches would have a box in which to place contributions for the poor at their Christmas Day services. These boxes were then opened on the 26th for distribution to the needy.

Another explanation for Boxing Day dates back to when sailing ships set off to discover far away lands. They would take with them a sealed box full of money as a good luck talisman, to help keep them safe on their voyages. When they returned safely a church service of thanks would be held and the box was presented to the vicar or priest.

This box would be kept until Christmas Day when the contents would be shared with the poor.

Anyway, I digress! I was in St.Austell today, thus the photo at the top of the page and the photo below.

The flower photo is art work in the new section of St.Austell town.

The weather is very mixed, one minute a rainbow and then showers. The building below - a block of flats (apartments) - is the only high rise housing in Cornwall, as far as I know.

On Christmas Day, in the evening, we headed for a walk at Charlestown with my son and his family. It was very cold, dark and not really a good time to snap photos - but all was peaceful.

The final photo is messing with some software, it's the same picture as the one above.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Not long to go now! Christmas for me is a season of differing emotions. There's the smiling, expectant, happy grandchildren, but there are also memories of Christmases past and thinking of my wonderful mother and father. There would be a stocking full of gifts with larger presents under the tree from Father Christmas. I remember such love, joy and excitement.

That's part of my tree in the photo above. Our adult children make fun of it. They ask, "Why don't you get a new one? A real tree perhaps."

The thing is though,  this has been a family tree since I was a child. I won't say how many years that is, but it's quite a while! So there are happy memories of my childhood Christmases and also those of our children when they were small and growing up. 

Somehow the tree has survived many moves and ups and downs.

My wife is happy with the tree as long as we have her childhood decorations hanging from the branches. That's one of them above.

Anyway, enough waffling on. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas - happy and peaceful.

Oh yes, Towser below is also from when I was a child, it belonged to my mother. If I touch his nose I know everything will be okay.

Happy Christmas everyone, hope you create some special, memorable moments that last forever.