WALKING ON THE BEACH AT CARLYON BAY, CORNWALL

This morning we went for a stroll along the beach at Carlyon Bay. Not many people about as it had been a blowy old night. The people who were there tended to be dog walkers.

It's a pleasant beach, or perhaps I should say: it was a pleasant beach. The problem is that, for what seems like forever, there have been plans to develop parts of the beach with shops and apartments. As yet nothing has materialised - other than disagreements and piles of rocks delivered for a possible sea wall. It's a shame as they have messed up large parts of the beach.

ST. DENYS, KING ARTHUR AND ST.DENNIS CHURCH

It was a dark and dismal day, not really a time for taking photos, but somehow we ended up in St.Dennis, a village away from the normal Cornish tourist trail.

The old church at St.Dennis - St Denys - stands high on a conical hill overlooking the village and Goss Moor. The church was originally built on the site of a fortified Iron Age settlement.

The Cornish language word for a hill fort is 'dinas' so perhaps this is how the church name came about. But, in saying that, the church was dedicated to St Dionysius in 1327 and this could well have changed over the years to Denys or maybe Dennis. Whatever, the church itself has been in place since the 11th century and the site was probably used for religious meetings well before this.

Looking across the fields and moors from the church

The legendary King Arthur may have walked these fields The The Megalithic Portal website quotes the following from the Chronicles of British Kings' by Geoffrey of Gloucester:

King Arthur. king of the Britons took refuge in the South West from the Angles, a Turkonic (sic) race who invaded Britain during the 5th century. Demelihoc was a secondary fortress of Gorlios, King of Cornwall. We asume Dimelihoc was a dinas of dennis on which the church was built. During the fight with Arthur, Gorlios put his wife Igeme in the strongest fort Castle an Dinas and he commanded Demelihoc hoping that he would survive. He was slain and his wife captured. She afterwards married Uther of round table fame.

Ancient Celtic Cross

Going back to the St, Denys churchyard, along the main entrance path is an ancient Celtic Cross. The age is unknown but there are crude markings of a cross and also an hour glass shaped design on the shaft.

I'll have to go back to the church at St.Dennis on a sunny day to take some decent photos. On a dismal day the church yard looks kind of creepy!

A final view looking from the church. There is an old pathway - and in the distance the white hills of the china clay industry

IN PRAISE OF THE CORNWALL AIR AMBULANCE

I was at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro yesterday (nothing serious) when out of the sky came the Cornwall Air Ambulance helicopter.

The air ambulance service is something special. It has been operating since 1987 and has carried out something like 20,000 missions - thus saving many lives. The helicopter can reach anywhere on Cornwall's mainland in about 12 minutes - which is often essential, especially in the summer months when many of Cornwall's main roads can get clogged with traffic.

The Cornwall Air Ambulance is not government funded but is, in effect, a charity so has to raise funds from sponsors and the general public. At the moment they are trying to raise £2.5 million to
bring the next generation air ambulance to Cornwall.

THE WHITE HART, ST.AUSTELL

This is the White Hart Hotel and Bar in the center of St.Austell, right opposite the church. I chose this particular photo today because there is a link with a previous post about Charlestown.

The link being that the Georgian White Hart was once the home of Charles Rashleigh - the man who built the harbour and village of Charlestown in the late 1700s.

The distinctive red/orange building in the background  was built a lot later in 1898 and is now a bank. It was designed by Silvanus Trevail and the red terracotta bricks came all the way from Ruanon in North Wales.

That's it for today, other than another photo of the White Hart.

THE VICIOUS SEAGULLS

This fellow was checking out the sign and pleading his innocence!

Must admit though that some of the seagulls have a definite taste for take-a-ways, sandwiches and chips. I saw one recently swoop down and snatch a child's cake - so there were floods of tears.

The problem is that visitors will feed them - the seagulls, that is - so they take the easy option when looking for their lunch.

THE TRISTAN STONE AND KING ARTHUR

The photo above may not appear that special on first glance but, like lots of things in Cornwall, there is a story attached to the stone - and a possible link with King Arthur and the Round Table. Oh, and the stone dates back to the year 550.

The stone is referred to as either the Trystan (Tristan) Stone or the Drustan Stone and is situated on the road between Par and Fowey in Cornwall, where there is a small lay-by.

On the north side of the stone a raised 'T' shape can be seen, This is an old version of a Christian Cross known as a Tau. You might just be able to make out the 'T' in the photo above - obviously it has weathered somewhat over nearly 1500 years.

On the south side of the stone 6th century letters can be seen (above) - again well weathered but they translate as 'Trystan here lies of Cunomorus the son.'

Cunomorus was Marcus Cunomorus - King Mark of Cornwall in the love story of Tristan and Isolde.

I mentioned King Arthur. The connection is that Tristan (or Trystan) became one of the Knights of the Round Table.

As for the Tristan and Isolde story this is how one of the many versions goes:

Isolde married King Mark of Cornwall, but had an affair with Tristan. This continued even after her wedding. King Mark eventually found out about the naughty goings on but forgave his wife. Tristan, however, was exiled from Cornwall and he moved to the court of King Arthur.

Tristan later travelled to Brittany in France, where he met Iseult. He was said to be attracted to her because of the similarity of her name to that of Isolde. He did the honourable thing with Iseult and married her - but in his heart of hearts he continued to love Isolde - ahh!

A SHORT WALK ALONG THE PENTEWAN VALLEY TRAIL

A bit of a grey day yet again but we had a short morning walk along the Pentewan Trail, starting out at the old bridge (above) where there is usually car parking space in the winter months.

We then followed the narrow St.Austell River with views across the valley.

The path widens (below) and is usually swarming with cyclists and walkers in the summer months but today - just occasional friendly dog walkers.



Gradually (below) the walk becomes more interesting even in the winter months.



And finally (below) instead of carrying on to to Pentewan village and Beach, as we often do, we made a detour to return to the bridge via another path through the woods - and still not very many people about!