A Beach Day
Nothing is as quiet as field atop a Cornish cliff, I’m now so used to living in the centre of town, I’ve forgotten what quiet sounds like. No rumble of lorries through the night, the screech of tyres, revving engines, shouts and squeals as people leave pubs or friends, drunken arguments conducted under the glare of the streetlight outside our house, taxi drivers who park opposite who shout loudly into phones or play loud music and keep their engines running. The half 6 wake up call as the builders arrive at the building site, car doors slamming, generators firing up, loud chats in 20 different languages as they wait for the gates to open. And through all that Cornish quiet I was awake until at least 2 am and awake again before 6…
The temperature in the morning is dropping every day, the sun is out but it feels thinner, the wind cuts through your clothes and gives you goosebumps. There are mushrooms in the dewy grass and blackberries in the hedges, to paraphrase Jon Snow, Autumn is coming….
But not before we’ve had a day on the beach…
The outlook didn’t look good, we had packed a rucksack with a picnic and swim stuff for a walk along the Cornish Coastal path to just beyond the Minack Theatre, back through the village to Porthcuno Beach. Within a minute of starting the walk the heavens opened, one rogue cloud in a sky of white and blue. We briefly sheltered in the lee of the motorhome and as quickly as it arrived, it stopped raining.
The Cornish Coastal path rollercoasts its way through the gorse cliff edge, with steep rocky descents and uphills where the steps were made for the legs of giants. There is a huge difference in how Charles and I manage these paths, Charlie has the balance and sure footedness of a ninja goat. He skips lightly from one stone to another, never once needing to ascend the steep slopes like a 2-year old going upstairs. If he was a goat, he would be one of those that is found up the sides of dams. I, on the other hand, have the grace and sure footedness of a Giant Panda in 8” stilettos. Going downhill is worse, one false step, one rolled ankle and you would be flat on your face, hitting granite on the way down or just plunging to your death. At least going up the really steep slopes, you can’t fall far when you are on all fours!
The ever present danger for some, (ok me) is compensated by spectacular views of the Cornish Coast. We passed the monument to where the first transatlantic telephone cable left our shores, enabling messages to reach the US in minutes rather than weeks. We passed the Minack Theatre, but entry was only for those with pre-booked tickets, so we passed by and then took a short, circle back to the beach through the village.
It was warm if you were out of the wind, we laid out towels out under the cliff protected from the wind and ventured again into the sea. This bay was calmer and although the water was bracing – 15 degrees – I could swim 4 ‘laps’ between the lifeguard flags which marked out 3/4 of the beach quite easily.
The beach was relatively busy, the majority enjoying the sun rather than the sea. A group near to us had a BBQ in a bucket and under Susie’s very strict instructions on the cooking of sausages, bacon and eggs, several trips to the sea to wash off a sausage that had been dropped in the sand, after over 2 hours of prep & cooking the group of friends declared their sausage, bacon and eggs sandwiches to be delicious.
We needed to be off our campsite by 4, so mid-afternoon we packed up and walked back along the Coastal Path.
Our next campsite was Treago Farm near Crantock, where we arrived in time to set up and have our own BBQ. The forecast was for the first ground frost of the year for some parts the country and there is certainly a real chill in the air here too.
RoundandAbout 