Home in the UK and on to Cornwall, my Zen place....

Its so nice to be back home and spend time with my Mum and Dad... its been too long between visits!!! Two & half years I think!!  Great to just chill and walk around the lanes in our Village and then to my all time favourite location, Sennen Cove in Cornwall.

First up a walk around the back lanes... thankfully my wellies, (gumboots) were still at home from our last visit as the lanes were pretty wet, muddy and flavourfully smelling of cow manure from the heavy rain they have had of late.  Dave managed to fit in Dads wellies too!  Lots of blackberries ripe for picking too :-)

Along the way we spotted a fox prowling for its dinner!

Field full of Mangel beets, grown for livestock feed.

Then we had to wait for the cows to pass from field to field before we could continue our walk!! Cows have the right of way here!!  They were certainly unsure about us!! 

Then spotted this huge patch of funghi growing on and around the base of the tree... I have no idea what type it is so if anyone knows their funghi's could you please let me know.  Cheers!

Then back home sat watching these beautiful Goldfinches feeding.

And my favourite creature, a squirrel... cheekily feeding off the bird feed on the bird table.

dew drop on a dahlia

Saturday 16 September 2017

After a couple of days relaxing and catching up Dad drove us to Sennen stopping off on the way at Lifton Farm Shop/Cafe for a spot of lunch.  Weather was quite mixed on the way down...

I took the ploughman's lunch option with traditional pork pie :-)

but when we arrived at Sennen the sun was shining down on us! Yahoo!!! :-) Great drive down too Dad :-) A quiet relaxing night in, ready for a big day out and about on Sunday.

Sunday 17 September 2017

Awoke early to a stunning morning!!!

Whitesand Bay, Sennen Cove

Brekky, showered and out for a walk across the back field's for the morning paper with Mum and Dad.

View from the fields

View of Cape Cornwall 

Mum and Dad then returned home, whereas Dave and I continued on for a longer walk to Lands End and across the cliff tops back down to the Coastguard's Lookout and down into Sennen Cove to meet Mum and Dad for a Cornish pastie :-)

Views approaching Lands End... with the Longships Lighthouse in view in the middle.

Views of the Longships Lighthouse... I think this was the start of my love of Lighthouses as I grew up in this part of the world during the holiday season.

The First & Last Shop with the Longships Lighthouse in the distance

Ahoy out there!

Along the cliff path walk we peered over and noticed a bit of a ship that had wrecked.

Then further along the cliff we spotted the rest of the ship.  It was the RMS Mulheim, a German cargo ship, built in Romania and launched in May 1999.  On 22 March 2003, it was wrecked at Land's End after the Chief Officer fell unconscious while on watch.  In heavy seas later that year, the ship was broken into two pieces.  Here it remains. 

A view of the Irish Lady... that's the pointy rock in the foreground.  Its been given that name cause it faces Ireland.

A close view of the Irish Lady... in this view I think it looks like a dog sitting.

A view from afar of the Coastguard's Lookout

A view of Sennen Cove

A view back to Lands End

A view of Sennen Breakwater and Beach

The Breakwater

Our compulsory Selfie!

View up to the Lookout

view of the Life Guards Hutt

View of the Round House and Capstan Gallery

view through the window of the Round House of the slipway

delicious Cornish Pastie

Mum & Dad outside the Lifeboat House

The lifeboat out on a call... 

Monday 18 September 2017

This was a day of everything!!  First up Dad dropped Mum, Dave and I off at Logan Rock so we could walk across the fields and down into Pemberth to check out the film crew setting up for a week of filming Poldark, the TV series.  Our walk ended back at the Logan Rock, 3.6ks in total round trip.

On the way coming across these beautiful horses.

A view of Tater Du Lighthouse just popping up behind the rocks

Looking down on Penberth Cove.

And here's the film crew setting up for Poldark...

Hey there!!! 

We came across this huge plant that looks like rhubarb!!!  Its a Gunnera plant and apparently the stalks on many species are variously edible.

I also have a love of doors too...

Walking out of Penberth Cove back to the Logan Rock.

After a relaxing drink Dave and I carried on walking while Mum and Dad went off to check out a few things.  We said we would call them from the Minnack Theatre for them to pick us up.

View of Pedn Vounder beach and me through the lookout near by.

On the other side, views of Porthcurno Beach/Cove and the Minack Theatre.

Pedn Vounder Beach...

Oh S**t, just dropped my lens cap down the cliff face taking this picture!!!! Thankfully I could see it so decided to start to climb down to get it. Dave saying no let me go!!! No I'll go... my thinking was Dave was stronger to pull me up if I needed assistance!!! Thankfully we both survived and we didn't need to get the rescue helicopter to assist us!! Though I wouldn't of minded being rescued by some handsome Coastguard!!! 

View of Porthchapel Beach

However it didn't work out that way!!! As unbeknown to all of us there was no mobile reception!!! Ooops now what do we do!!! Dave and I decided to carry on walking along the cliff walk to Porthgwarra as it was only 2 more kilometres.  As we walked we kept checking the phone for reception... still none!!! Carrying on walking we were hoping when we got to our location the reception would work!  And guess what... it didn't!!!  Tried a telephone box.... gosh I hadn't operated one of those for quite some years!!! Still no luck!!! By now we were starting to stress a little!!! Hoping Mum and Dad were ok and that they were not worrying about us!! Dave and I decided to walk out of Porthgwarra and head back to Sennen Cove... (only another 2hrs walking!!) hoping all the way that the phone reception would come good!!  After a long walk out up the hill zig zagging around the bends we eventually got reception and contacted Mum and Dad :-) Yay they were ok and yay they came and picked us up!!!

There was a silver lining out of all of this... we actually got to see Poldark being filmed in the distance on the cliffs of Gwennap Head.  

Poldark and Demelza on horseback

All up walking a total of 8.3ks!!

Tuesday 19 September 2017

You'd think we had enough of walking the day before, but no, we were up for another walk!!! After all, we need to walk off all the calories we have been accumulating!!!

It was also a great chance to catch up too with a lovely family friend, Maureen.

glimpse of the Coastguard lookout and the breakwater - Sennen

Sennen Cove and the Longships Lighthouse 

Gwenver Beach 

Sennen Cove

Dave, Maureen and Mum on Gwenver Beach

Maureen, Mum and Me on Sennen Beach

Later in the afternoon we went out and about to do a bit of shopping.  Stopping along the way to admire the views. Here's St Michael's Mount and the Penzance South Pier Lighthouse.

Views of Newlyn... 

With a distant capture shot of yet another lighthouse :-) This one is Newlyn South Pier Lighthouse.

Dinner tonight is the compulsory fish, chips and mushy peas from Lewis in Newlyn.  Delicious!

Then on the way home we spotted this amazing sky... so we drove all the way out to Lands End to watch the sun set.   Just stunning!!!

Wednesday 20 September 2017

Awoke to quite a wet and miserable morning and it continued to be so for the rest of the day!!! We didn't mind experiencing one rough day after the three lovely days we have experienced.  Though it didn't stop us from getting out and about and taking a drive to St Ives for a wander around.

A view of St Ive's harbour and Smeaton's Pier with the old and new lighthouses.  Yay two more lighthouses to add to our list!!!

New Lighthouse

Old Lighthouse

After a lovely wander in and out the narrow streets and a welcomed sit down in The Union Inn pub to shelter from the rain we made our way back home for an early night as we were heading off to Tintagel, Exeter and then overnight in Bristol to visit my brother and family.  Oh we did have our last compulsory Cornish pastie too and bought some fruit scones to make our own Cornish cream tea on our trip up the coast!!!

Thursday 21 September 2017

Awoke to a clearer day.  Packed the car, and set off, stopping up the road for breakfast at Trevedra Farm.  Great idea of Mum and Dads as we didn't have to cook or wash up!!! Right lets go find King Arthur and Merlin at Tintagel Castle.

Such an amazing coastline... 

view of Merlins Cave... inside and out... but no Merlin to be seen... 

We found King Arthur.... 

Such an amazing place full of history to visit.  You need to be relatively fit to climb up and down all the steep steps to view it all!!!

Next stop Exeter to visit my cousin Ken and his wife Sandra for quick catch up.  Oops forgot to take a pic of us all together!

Great night with my brother, Kevin, and his family, Sally, Maria and Kristian.

Tomorrow a full day in the Cotswolds... till then!