A Walk in Luxulyan Valley to View Cornwall's Industrial Past

A walk today in the Luxulyan Valley. We decided to keep it shortish and walk for an hour and then retrace our footsteps. So no more than two hours in total, probably less. I'll show our starting point at the end of the post.

It's an interesting walk as amongst the pathways there are abandoned remains from Cornwall's industrial past.

Way back, from 1840, stone laden trams would run down an inclined tramway to the valley floor.

Old tramway lines can be seen alongside the path.

We saw very few people as we walked, mainly locals exercising their dogs.

A sign of The friends of the Luxulyan Valley.

The pathway widened.

We walked under a bridge.

There is a warning sign reminding walkers to take care.

Looking up at the bridge, wild flowers contrasted with the blue sky.

Typically for a valley there is a river rushing to get somewhere fast.

Debris had accumulated in the river.

The sky may have been blue but the trees made everywhere cool and dappled.

Ah, and then, suddenly, what I wanted to view: the remnants of the Trevanney Dry used until 1960 for processing china clay piped in from outside of the valley.

The next three photos show the remains of the building.

Red Bricks, the sign of the chimney.

And the chimney from a distance.

We now started to retrace our footsteps. So much greenery.

A river trundled along by the path and ...

... a sign for the St. Blazey Bridge was  by the railway lines. 

We actually started our walk at St. Blazey.

And here we are back by the A390 at St. Blazey. You can see below where I parked my white car. This was in Aberdeen Close - which is just before the railway crossing if travelling east or just after the railway crossing if travelling west.

Our walk started on the opposite side of the road. There isn't a sign but there is a dip and a path can be seen leading into the greenery.

A pleasant enough walk but there is much more to Luxulyan Valley - See my post The Luxulyan Valley Cornwall.

Luxulyan Valley Combined Viaduct and Aqueduct 

The Cornish Wedding of King Arthur to Guenever

Restormel Castle, Cornwall

As I was unable to get out and about this week todays post is the the story of King Arthur's marriage to Guenever (sometimes written as Guenevere).

This is a very old version from the early 1800s and is in a poetry format. I have been fascinated by King Arthur since childhood - anyway, here we go ...

King Arthur Marries Guenever

"When Restormel Castle he alights

With worship hood in hand the knights,

Arthur, conduct to castle bower.

On verdant deis sat Guenever:

Like tendrils of vine, her hair

In golden ringlets falls:

The diamond-comb her hand dismissed,

When she sees  mail and nodding crest

Approach the massive walls;

And rose respectful -: coats of dust,

The armour of the chiefs encrust;

The steeds wet, foaming, pranced;

As o'er her cheek, fresh beauties dawn;

Her King to meet, across the lawn;

She in form divine,  advanced.

Great was the contrast :- beat with rains;

And scorched with suns, on bloody plains,

The warrior King, her lily hands,

Pressed his lips - her countenance bland,

Where opening roses, modest, blushed,

With spotless innocence was flushed.

A Christian Priest with beard of snow, 

The first whom Cornwall's converts know,

Whose words still, Druid forms repeal

With purer faith and holier zeal,

unites their hands - admist the nite,

He prays heaven's grace on them alight.

King Arthur and Queen Guenever

To famed Tintagel now repair.

The skies are clothed in livelier blue,

As onward they their course pursue;

More glorious beams the golden day

On Cornwall's royal-ranged array."

Tintagel Castle, Cornwall

Thanks for visiting my blog. I realise this post isn't everyone's cup of tea!

You might prefer my post A Walk With Stunning Views At Tintagel, Cornwall: King Arthur Country - 20 Photos

A Short Walk in Cornwall - the Cure When Feeling 'Under the Weather'

I was feeling a little 'under the weather' as I looked out of our upstairs bedroom window - photo below. I decided the answer was fresh air and a walk. Oh, and yes, there are lots of trees on the opposite side of the road.

I have since discovered that feeling 'under the weather' is a nautical saying from the early sailing ships.

It appears that a sailor feeling sickly or unwell would be sent below deck to protect him from the weather. Being below deck he would literally be 'under the weather'.

Anyway, off I went on a short walk from home. The flowers above and below are from our front garden. Needless to say I had my small camera with me as I walked.

I met up with the local stream, the vegetation nearly covering the water. Always uplifting to hear the sounds of a river or stream.

The stream gurgled through a small tunnel.

The grass and small wild flowers seemed to be dancing with delight. Everything felt so fresh and green - quite uplifting.

I wonder how the 'red hot pokers' ended up running wild on the bank?

Further along my walk the gunnera were starting to spread their leaves.

An old cottage, built in 1834, was almost hidden away

Leaves seemed to have been freshly polished and ...

... the hydrangea were preparing to flower.

Green shoots on the willow tree.

I always find that fresh air, nature and a walk are the remedy for feeling 'under the weather'.

Of course a walk along a Cornish beach is also good medicine ...

... especially if you have the beach to yourself. It's all about timing!

That's all for today, thanks for visiting my blog.

A Walk Around the Old Harbour at Charlestown, Cornwall - 20+ Photos

We are in Charlestown again for a stroll, but mainly to see the repaired harbour wall - see my post: A Glimpse of Charlestown, Cornwall While the Harbour Walls are Being Repaired.

All is now quite neat and tidy once more - though a few marks remain on the sea wall as can be seen above.

The only problem for walkers is that the gate, which is also a bridge, as seen in the above photo, was closed to pedestrians. This will no doubt be sorted soon.

Otherwise all looked as it should.

There had also been some work on the slipway, the new, neat stones contrasting with the old stone walls.

Looking at the photo below shows the whiter cement where the harbour wall has been repaired.

A few canoes were in the harbour.

We always like to walk along the high harbour wall where a man was fishing, though hadn't caught anything. A man asked him what he was hoping to catch. He replied, "Anything edible!"

Walking along the wall we could see the ship below with the sun suddenly sparkling on the sea.

It's an interesting view though, even if there aren't any boats to be seen.

From the main harbour we walked to the far end of what I always call the port. Not many boats or tall ships on display because of the gate I mentioned earlier which had been closed.

There is an old boat on display and ... 

...  a large anchor.

The Pizzeria adjoins the Shipwreck Treasure Museum.

We meandered back to the main harbour ...

... passing Poldark's tall ship and some cottages on high. I clicked a few quick photos as we continued.

And that was the end of our stroll - always a pleasure to spend time in Charlestown.

Moving on. Nope, the photo below isn't Charlestown! This is part of our back garden and we were expecting our son and his family for tea and cakes. We had everything ready, six chairs round the table and then it decided to rain. We grabbed all the umbrellas we could find to stop the chairs and table getting too wet. Luckily it was only a brief shower.

The rain though, blew our twisted willow tree.

And some pretty flowers cascaded over from next doors fence.

To finish today's post a pot of flowers in our garden - I can't remember at the moment what they are called. 

Thanks for visiting my blog, hope you have an interesting week. Good wishes ~ Mike.