A Glimpse of Charlestown, Cornwall While the Harbour Walls are Being Repaired

I was wondering if Charlestown had managed to repair their harbour wall - see my post https://mikescornwall.blogspot.com/2021/03/problems-at-charlestown-harbour-and.html. So I decided to pay a visit via the coastal path.

The May blossom was out in all its glory. It always reminds me of the old saying: Ne'er cast a clout till May be out. My mother said this every year on seeing the first May blossom.

The flowers were in abundance as I made my way towards the harbour - and other plants too.

The first glimpse of the harbour from the coastal path - all looks quiet.

The path continued downhill past a Beach Retreat.

Ah, and now a clear view of part of the harbour showing the heavy equipment still in situ. 

Two more photos of how the harbour looks (at today's date 04/04/21).

A couple of doves seemed very interested in what was happening.

A few boats in port.

Nearby is the Shipwreck Treasure Museum. Haven't been in their for donkey years.

That's all for today, thanks for your visit ~ Mike.

Flowers This Year In Cornwall

Okay, here we go with some flowers I have seen in Cornwall recently.

I'll admit I cheated with the photo above as they are flowers my wife received on her birthday.

The flowers in the next group of five photos were all growing happily - wild and free... those were the days!

Some quince. We used to have one of these in our garden. I can't quite remember what happened to it, though it did bear fruit. 

Heather seen near Cornwall's Eden Project.

Next proves that Cornwall has had some  pleasant blue sky days - contrasts well with the pink blossom.

Ah, and one of my favourite birds, the robin, always a welcome visitor.

Two more flowers which were growing wild, quite an explosion of forget-me-nots

Primroses: often seen wild but these are from our garden. The red coloured brick is from the cottage where my wife was born in northern Germany. On a visit to the area the cottage had been virtually destroyed to make way for a new main road - so we brought home a brick as a souvenir.

Next is Toby's bush in memory of our favourite ever dog, a wonderful border collie. His photo is at the end of the post.

A pink azalea in our front garden, hasn't been quite as bountiful with the flowers as usual.

Another photo of the same azalea.

Oh, and some roses my wife also received on her birthday - well that's what she told me! 

Thanks for visiting my blog - all good wishes.

My favourite photo of Toby

The Lovely Riverside Town of Fowey, Cornwall, 21 Photos

Sometimes you see a house which seems to have a perfect setting, like the one above in Fowey. 

What a view - overlooking the sea and the entrance to the Fowey River and also near to Polly's Leap and cove - which, perhaps, may not be so good. 

There are varying stories, but someone called Polly is said to have thrown herself and her new born baby from the cliff after being jilted by her boyfriend.

We were walking along the Esplanade in Fowey towards the town.

We continued to the end of the Esplanade and turned right by the red post box

Though I did take a quick look at Fowey Church.

We meandered towards the quay passing the Aquarium - with an outside barometer. According to the info Admiral Robert Fitzroy produced this design back in 1857.

Two hundred of the barometers were placed around the coast. The barometer shown below is number 103 and was given to Fowey town on  the 21st of January, 1871.

On the quay is a Rook with a Book. This is to celebrate the author Daphne du Maurier who lived in Fowey.

One of her books, The Birds, was adapted for Alfred Hitchcock's classic film of the same name.

There were also some Spring flowers in boxes.

The Polruan Ferry came into view. This, as the name suggests, crosses the river from the village of Polruan to Fowey and vice versa.

We moved on to Fore Street but only walked as far as Mrs. Noahs, Instead we took a back street,  Bull Lane.

From here we could look down on the rooftops and ...

... a good view of the 16th century church tower.

We came across a quote from Wind in the Willows: "and you really live by the river? What a jolly life."

Some say that Pont Pill, a creek which joins the River Fowey, was  the inspiration for Kenneth Grahame's Mole, Ratty, Toad and Badger's adventures in his book The Wind in the Willows

Another view of the church.

We now start to go downhill via steps.

A few brightly coloured cottages show the way.

The photo below is looking back to where we had walked.

And bob's your uncle, we are next to the church once more - along with some Spring flowers. The 14th century church, is dedicated to St. Finbarr

So it's back to the Esplanade to retrace our steps. A couple of photos of the cottages. 

The Fowey River is to the left and if you take a sneaky peek through a window, when no one is looking of course, you'll see the river.

And finally for today looking across the river to Polruan.

Fowey Car Parking:

The car parks in Fowey can be quite expensive, but at this time of year (October to April) I park roadside where there is a single yellow line. See sign below which verifies this is okay. Always double check the signs though.

Thanks for visiting my blog:

For more of Fowey please see these posts:

A Flavour Of the Old Town of Fowey, Cornwall With 24 Photos

Fowey - The Cornish Town With Narrow Streets and River Views - 18 Photos

Time Really Did Stand Still

A while back my wife and I wandered into, Devon which is the next county to Cornwall. It was here that I discovered that time really can stand still.

We went for a walk on Dartmoor. There wasn't another soul to be seen, so perfect for walking and forgetting the rest of the world. 

For a while we followed a path alongside a small river, which we crossed using some stepping stones. We then had to make our way up the side of the valley via some uneven stone steps. All quite reasonable and shouldn't have caused any problem ... but little did I know!

Karin was ahead of me and when we were nearly at the top she must have missed a step or slipped on the uneven rocks. Whatever happened she started to fall backwards. I was a couple of steps behind her ... and it was then that time stood still.

Thoughts started flowing through my mind ..."When Karin hits me I wall fall backwards as well ... I'll hit my head on the rocks below ...she will land on top of me but will still have a nasty fall ... what should I do for the best ..."

I was methodically working out what to do and the consequences as Karin was falling backwards, so it can only have been a second in time, if that.

I then felt my back foot being lowered to the step below and, goodness knows how, I caught her! I didn't fall and neither of us was hurt.

The point is that time definitely stood still. I couldn't possibly have had all of those thoughts and react to catch Karin in a normal, every day, time frame.

We reached the top of the steps and looked down. Karin was shaking and was in tears thinking of what might have happened to us both. She said words to the effect that our Guardian Angel must have been looking after us. I still can't explain how I caught her.

All in all a weird experience.

I have never experienced anything like this previously.  Oh, other than when I was riding a donkey facing backwards in a donkey race - and thought I was going to fall off - but that's another story!

Seriously though, there does seem to be much more to our lives than we fully realise.

Thanks for reading - will be back to a Cornwall theme for my next post.