Walking Gover Valley, Cornwall: Wild Flowers and the Dreaded Japanese Knotweed

A dull rainy day but we wandered along the Gover Valley. 

The Gover Stream gurgled along happily as we walked and there were flowers, weeds and herbs for company. They all looked quite healthy because of the recent heavy rain.

We reached some, what I believe to be ovens, left over from the china clay industry which once thrived in Cornwall.

We decided to turn round here and retrace our steps, the stream was still making its merry way to the sea.

Ah, but now we came to some unwanted visitors: Japanese Knotweed! It's the plant to the right of the photo below. Yes, it looks innocent, and later will have nice pink flowers, but it isn't. 

To quote the UK Government web site: You could be fined up to £5,000 or be sent to prison for up to 2 years if you allow [Japanese Knotweed] contaminated soil or plant material from any waste you transfer to spread into the wild. 

Sadly there is a lot of this knotweed along Gover Valley. It's difficult to eliminate despite the area having been treated.

Moving on we returned home safely!

My wife has been making coronavirus masks. I think she's made over 50 and they have been distributed to relatives, friends and neighbours - whether they want one or not!

Seriously though, masks are now advisable when out and about in crowded places and are compulsory when travelling in buses and trains. Looks like she still has lots more material.

Thanks for the visit, stay healthy.

Happy Memories Triggered by a Fishpond

I was having a mooch around the garden wondering what to do first - if anything!

Then I had a flood of memories from, well, many years ago. I remembered making the fish pond, photo below.

Yes, I know it doesn't look like a fishpond, what with all of the plants on show. I'll come back to that a little later. What first activated my memories were the three bricks: two reddish and one yellowish / whiteish.

The bricks came from northern Germany.

My wife was born in northern Germany and on one of our visits we had a trip out to see where she was born - which was in the house below.

When we reached where the house should have been we found it had just been demolished to make room for the Nordstrasse (North Road). Such a shame as it looked to have once been a lovely thatched house. 

We took three of the original bricks away with us and transported them back to Cornwall. Luckily we had our car with us! We had travelled to Germany via Harwich (about 350 miles from Cornwall) followed by 16 hours on a boat to Denmark. From there we drove to northern Germany. 

So that's how the bricks became part of our 'fishpond'. They now need a good clean!

Now for the fishpond that never was!

On the way back to Cornwall we stopped off in west London to see my parents - so this goes back many years. Our son was with us and he would have been about five or six. Just along from where my parents lived there was a big travelling fair so we had to have a look at what was going on. 

We had a go on some sort of stall and won a prize - which happened to be a goldfish! This delighted our young son. Luckily my mother still had a fish bowl from when I was a child. We were therefore able to transport the fish back to Cornwall quite safely.

All well and good, but after being home a few days I foolishly announced that I would build a fishpond in the garden and it would include the bricks we had transported home from Germany.

It didn't go to plan! The fishpond I created leaked and then the fish died. He never seemed a happy fish (fairs etc. aren't allowed nowadays to give fish and the like as prizes.)

My fishpond became a place for plants.

I tried several times to stop it leaking before I finally gave up. I, of course, should have used a rubber lining.

Anyway, that was all a long time ago but it's good to look back at times. It reminded me of my wife's mother and brother and my own mother and father, all of whom have since died. I remembered happy days when my son was young - to think he now has two fast growing children.

But life moves on.

The plants in the photos are from my garden and the apple tree below was the one grown from a pip. See my post Growing An Apple Tree From A Pip

Apologies for rambling on so long today.

The Old Harbour and Port at Charlestown and a Pleasant Surprise

Charlestown had been closed from the start of the coronavirus until the beginning of June, so it was good to be able to walk around the harbour again.  

There are usually a couple of tall ships in port, sometimes more.

The harbour and the tall ships are popular as film sets - including the television favourite of Poldark.

As I have no doubt said in other Charlestown posts the building of the harbour was initiated way back in 1791. The port was built to facilitate the transport of copper from nearby mines. When the mines were no longer profitable the port was used for the export of local china clay until 2010. 

On this visit it was quite chilly and windy ...

… as can be seen below by the girl's hair blowing in the wind.

There are small beaches either side of the harbour but, as can be seen by the photos, not many people felt like walking on the sand and shingle.

The photo above and below are the beach to the east of the harbour.

We also wandered along the west beach and I snapped a quick photo of a rock pool.

As we started a final walk along the harbour wall we saw our son and family coming in the opposite direction - great minds think alike! A pleasant surprise to see the grandchildren - at a safe distance, of course.

All in all an enjoyable walk despite the chill in the air.

You may also like:
A Stroll Around Poldark's Charlestown Harbour, Cornwall - 12 Photos  Old Vintage Photos of Charlestown, Cornwall

Walking to Black Head, Cornwall - With Magnificent Views of Coastline

We tried to think of somewhere we hadn't walked for quite a while and we decided a visit to Black Head would be our destination

We parked at Trenarren, there are about eight parking spots. Luckily there were only two other cars parked. 

Driving to Trenarren is fun as the lane / road is quite narrow and at times there is only room for one car. Fortunately there are a few passing points, so have to keep fingers crossed and hope you are near a passing point if a car comes in the opposite direction.

The mound of the Black Head Headland can be seen in the photo below.

Black Head is just over 150 feet high and was once the site of an ancient fort. There are also the remnants of a rifle range built in the 1880s.

 Somehow, as we were going from memory, we took a wrong path - but as it was a pleasant day it didn't really matter.

Close to the path leading to the headland there is a monument to Arthur Leslie Rowse (1903-1997) a writer, poet and historian.

He was the son of an uneducated china clay worker and was the first Cornishman to win a university scholarship, reading English at Christchurch College, Oxford. 

At last on Black Head - to the west can be seen the cliffs …

...and in the distance the beach at Pentewan.

A view to the east ...

… and the long sandy beach at Carlyon Bay can be seen.

A final view before the walk back to our car.

All very pleasant, I'm always happy walking the Cornish coastline.

Places mentioned in the post:

Looking For Lucky Shells at Carlyon Bay, Cornwall 

An Easy Walk at Pentewan, Cornwall Taking In Trees, Sea, Sand, Cliffs and a Private Cove For Lunch

Village of St. Clement, The Tresillian River and The Ancient Ignioc Stone

It was a pleasant day so we decided to walk alongside the Tresillian River to the small village of St.Clement. The photo above shows some of the riverside cottages within the village.

The river is tidal and looked splendid in the sunshine. Unfortunately the tide was going out so there were mud flats in places.

The path by the river is a decent width.

No boats on the river, only those not being used.

When we arrive at St.Clement we always look out for the row of cups and mugs on one of the buildings.

The main attraction in the village is the 13th century church.

By the side of the church is a very old stone (below) known as the Ignioc Stone. There is an inscription 'VITALI FILI TORRICI' which translates as 'Vitalus son of Torricus'. It is thought that the stone goes back to the sixth or seventh century. There is another later inscription, IGNIOC - most probably a personal name - which gives the stone its name.

There are many old memorial stones, including the one below for William Callaway from 1784, as an example. It reads:

Today, of Health and strength we boast 

To-morrow brings us down to Dust

May we, while Time & strength are giv'n

Believe in CHRIST & live for Heav'n

The church itself was closed, because of the coronavirus. After looking round the churchyard we wandered back to the river, where we munched on some sandwiches. Together with cups of tea, of course.

It was then time to start our return walk.

Lots of daisies on many of the stone walls.

The river looked nice despite the mud.

There's a small lake on the opposite side of the path. We managed to see a few small fish.

Lots of reeds by the river - and then we were back to our car, parked in a small lay-by.

Also see The Peaceful St.Clement Church by the Tresillian River, Cornwall. This has photos of the inside of the St. Clement church

The Noisy Squirrel Who Wanted More Food

We heard a heck of a row coming from our back garden first thing in the morning. We were immediately concerned in case an animal had been hurt.

We traced the noise to a large tree in our garden and we could see a squirrel - a grey squirrel. We weren't too sure what was wrong because of the awful noise he was making.

This finally stopped and the squirrel appeared okay as he was sitting on a branch.

We went indoors and both agreed we never realised squirrels made such loud noises.

I looked out of the window a few minutes later and there was the squirrel in our bird house, as per the photos. He seemed quite happy munching on the seeds and nuts I had left for the birds.

The food was soon devoured and the squirrel appeared to push the dish forward as if asking for more - see below - an Oliver Twist moment!

We occasionally have a grey squirrel passing through our garden as we live opposite a small wood.

I did a Google search and found the exact noise the squirrel was making on the British Library web site. It seems that they can make chattering, rasping and barking noises and can become particularly noisy when alarmed or angry. You live and learn!

According to the British Library they are highly intelligent mammals.

As I guess most people in the UK know the grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) were foolishly introduced to the UK in the 1870s from the USA. This consequently resulted in a decline of our native, more attractive, red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris).

Back in the 1870s there were an estimated 3.5 million red squirrels in the UK. Nowadays, in England, there are only an estimated 15,000. The major problem is that the grey squirrels carry the Parapoxvirus, which does not appear to affect their health but can kill red squirrels. And we all know about the danger of viruses! We shouldn't mess with nature.