NEWQUAY, SURFING FISTRAL BEACH

Fistral Beach, Newquay, is one of the best for surfing. There is a consistency and quality of surf. Newquay is often quoted as being the surfing capital of the UK.

It's a lovely stretch of sand and high on the cliffs is the impressive Headland Hotel.

The hotel was first opened in June 1900 and has hosted royalty. King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra were the first to stay at the hotel in the early 1900's. Charles, the current King, and also Princess Ann, the Princess Royal have also enjoyed several visits - at least I presume they enjoyed themselves! Hard to tell what they are thinking at times.

The town of Newquay is on Cornwall's north coast and is very much a seaside resort. The population of the town is around 20,000 but this shoots up to nearer 100,000 in the main summer season. So, to say it gets busy, is an understatement - it heaves with people in the main summer holiday period. The attraction? Sandy beaches, I believe there are 11! Oh, and surfing, as I have already mentioned.

In the photo above, on the cliff top is a small white building. This is the Huers Hut mentioned in a previous post.

Changing the subject: a while back there was a clean up of Fistral Beach Litter was found going back to the 1970s and 80s! The rubbish lay buried under a collapsed sand dunes.

I have a bit of a bee in my bonnet about litter. I fail to understand why people can't take their rubbish home. Why pollute beautiful scenery? It's interesting though how some of the items found have survived for perhaps 30+ years. We really are polluting our Earth - and not just with plastic.

 Here are just a few of the items found under the sand dunes

# A 1984 Smiths Crisps packet  that offers a free Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Poster 

# Coca Cola can dated 1984 
# A Marathon chocolate wrapper also from 1984
# Packet of Golden Wonder crisps offering a model of a Laker Airways DC-10 - Laker went bankrupt in 1982!
# Burton's Smax
# Treets, who changed their name in 1988

And so it goes on.

That's it for today. It's cup of tea time,  and hopefully a biscuit or two

Thanks for visiting my blog ~ Mike.

SEEKING COLOUR AND FLOWERS

It was yet another dismal day so I decided to try and seek out some floral colour, to lift the spirits.

The first two flowers are from our garden. I've no idea what the flower above is called*. A neighbour gave us this, as a small cutting last year. He told us it was something very exotic! But, whatever, it has wintered well and is now in flower.

Our azalea has a few flowers and normally, given time,  will soon be fully covered with flowers.

So let's see what else we can find on a short walk. First a few snowdrops by the roadside, always a welcome sight.

Next seen climbing over a neighbours wall.

We wandered into a local park - a very Spring like display.

There were a few crocuses trying to hide in the grass - and would have been easy to miss.

A small coffee shop in the park - with pineapples on the door!

Still in the park. A few white flowers trying to escape from the lawn bowls greens.

Now a couple of early, shy daffs hiding away. Not quite Wordsworth's host of golden Daffodils but still pleasant to see.

Okay, not flowers, in the next photo, but the St. Austell Brewery is a pleasant, interesting building and has been around since 1893.

Back to flowers, these were in my son's garden.

Next, one of my favourites: primroses in our garden. They make me feel that Spring is around the corner, even though it's a while until the 20th of March.

And finally, a display seen in St. Austell town square, perhaps a little too gaudy for my personal taste.

Thanks for visiting my blog,

 have a happy, colourful week ~ Mike.

* The flower in the first photo is a hellebore.

SEARCHING FOR GOOD LUCK AT CARLYON BAY, CORNWALL

Gosh, a pleasant day, the rain had  ceased, though a few puddles remained. We decided to have a short walk along the beach at  Carlyon Bay.

It was quite chilly, but who cares when there is treasure to be found - well, perhaps.

I had recently read a book 'Seagulls in the Attic' by Tessa Hainsworth, who has started a new life in Cornwall. 

Tessa writes how she likes to find cowrie shells on the beach. She writes, "I love these tiny pinkish shells, no bigger than my little fingernail. They're lucky shells, the Cornish equivalent to the Irish four-leaf clover."

On a previous visit to Carlyon Bay my wife and I found dozens of small pink shells. So we set off to find some more. It's always useful to have a handy supply of good luck, you never know when it might come in handy!

I soon found a pink shell but little else.

The beach was quite empty, the sand smooth, untouched and nothing had been washed ashore.

A walk on the untouched sand is, by itself, good luck.

We enjoyed the far end of the beach, the peace and the silence.

The rocks and cliffs have their own special beauty. The comings and goings they must have witnessed over thousands of years.

Eventually we retraced our footsteps.

Looking inland, numerous enormous rocks were piled high. They were originally to be used as a breakwater when there was talk of the beach being redeveloped with apartments and shops. But this has never come to fruition.

We made our way back to our car via the puddles.

I did manage to pick up a few bits and pieces along the beach, but nothing too exciting. They will, however, be added to my collection of bits and pieces labelled 'you never know when these might come in handy.'

Thanks for visiting my blog

Hope you lots of good luck luck ~ Mike.

PORTHPEAN, CORNWALL BEACH AND CLIFFS

What a lovely surprise, a blue sky day so we headed for Porthpean Beach, which is about two or three miles from the town of St. Austell and is part of St. Austell Bay.

Porthpean Beach is simply a stretch of sand backed by cliffs, as can be seen in in the the photo above. It's not a hot spot for tourists but is somewhere the locals visit. 

The name Porthpean is from the Cornish language words 'porth' meaning cove and 'pean' meaning little or small.

I always find cliffs interesting.

Some of the Porthpean cliffs are topped with trees.

There are a couple of sets of steps for anyone (like me) who wants to get to the top of the cliffs. The steps also lead to the coastal path.

Looking down from the steps, half way. Not many people on the beach today!

A view now from the top of the cliffs looking down on Porthpean beach.

At the top of the cliffs is an old look-out used during World War 2.

From the look-out the surrounding countryside can be seen. Lots of fields of green.

I reached the coastal path which heads towards Duporth Beach and Charlestown. 

This a wonderful positive about Cornwall, there is a coastal path all along the county and beyond. The path isn't always as neat, tidy and flat, as shown in my photo below, but is walkable as long as you don't mind ups and downs.

That's all for today.

Thanks for visiting my blog ~ Mike.

WALKING THE PENTEWAN VALLEY TRAIL

We had a walk, or perhaps it was more like a stroll, along part of the Pentewan Valley Trail. This stretches from St. Austell to the sea at Pentewan.

It was damp under foot but very pleasant otherwise. We walked alongside the small St. Austell River which is also known, by some, as the Vinnick River or the White River.

Part of the walk veered through an attractive wood, with fallen leaves underfoot.

It had been raining a heck of a lot, so much water lingered either side of the path.

The trees and reflections made some confusing views.

The trail ended for us at Pentewan harbour. The photo below shows the sluice gate built in 1872. This  controlled the water used to flush out the harbour basin. 

A few more small trees and quite a lot of water.

And then we reached the land locked harbour at Pentewan.

From here we retraced our steps alongside the river.

I guess we walked about three miles. So nothing too strenuous. It's always uplifting though to get out in the fresh air and amongst trees and nature.

Footnote: The Pentewan Trail was once the route of a railway which travelled from St. Austell to Pentewan Harbour transporting china clay. I mentioned this at the end of my blog post AFTERNOON TEA & OTHER MEANDERINGS

Thanks for visiting my blog ~ Mike.