....to ourselves!

We’ve actually been and gone and done something we promised ourselves that we’d do at the start of the winter, though to be frank, we could have made a lot more effort to get some of it done while there have not been too many people about and we chose today, at the start of a Bank Holiday weekend to start our journey around the Cornwall Coast Path.

It’s not that we’ve not done several bits of the famous coast path before, in fact, we’ve done a few bits – the Looe to Polperro bit has been done several times, then we’ve done some sections around St Mawes, Bude, Crantock, Holywell, Lerryn and a few other bits too. But really what we’ve done is a mere scratch of the surface when you consider that the path is 258 miles of the country’s most beautiful walking terrain.

Anyway, we promised ourselves that we’d get out and do some more of it and so today we’ve done just that. We’ve walked Rame Head, one of the most easterly parts of the path (dunno if the Bude bit is further east but as far as the south part of the path is concerned, if you go much further east, you end up in the Tamar, which is a pretty busy stretch of water as we’ve seen today, with both sailing and motored boats hurtling up and down it.

You can actually see Rame Head from our old house in the village where we first came to Cornwall, across the countryside and in front of the Eddystone Lighthouse, twinkling away in the distance.

Today, we parked by the Coastguard station, walked west along the coast, then north into Kingsand, had a spot of lunch then got back on the coast path walking east then south back to Rame. I suppose it’s probably around five miles. So, another drop in the ocean in terms of the 258 miles but a bit more under our belt.

The wonderful climate of the Cornish coast delivers an abundance of early wildlife, with the flora and fauna almost tripping over itself to wow you. We’ve walked through fields of bluebells, with flowers as dark as midnight, clouds of may blossom, sloes the size of fat blackberries already, nesting birds, butterflies, wild garlic wafting its delicious scent as you brush past it. Yep – this is as nice a place as I can imagine alright.

This little slate building was once a chapel, built in the 14th Century and dedicated to St Michael. Apparently a hermit priest used to light a beacon there to warn ships and boats off the rocks. Apparently there has been a tradition of shoving coins in between its slates for centuries. I wish I’d known that before we went and I’d have added one or two of my own. I love that sort of thing.

The shot is taken looking west along the coast towards Whitsand bay, scene of another of my PotDs in 2004 I think……and one of DMs from his first session, of his precious bug on the clifftop!

Last year, we were walking too but then we had an ulterior motive!