P is for Pasties: a Cornish tradition

Cornwall. 

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We are on the move again today, leaving Cornwall and heading east towards the Isle of Wight.

It has been a good visit - walking, seascapes, natural beauty, mining legacy, trying to find Poldark.

And of course we had to try the famous Cornish Pastie, Cornish Ice Cream and the Cornish cream tea with delicious clotted cream. 

And we have had it all! 

The pastie was the first ‘fast food’, made for the tin miners; it was a meal of the best skirt of beef, potatoes, carrots and swedes encased in pastry, the thick edge was then discarded down the mine – to appease the little people who lived in the mines, the pisky’s, but also because the miners hands were filthy.

Food in Cornwall.

T is for Towanroath: a marvel on the path

Towanroath Engine House.

Another exhilarating day along the South West Coast Path, this time to take in the awesome sea cliffs of St. Agnes Head and the impressive Towanroath Engine House, built in 1872, and restored by the National Trust. The purple heather and yellow gorse now blanket what would have been an industrial landscape during Cornwall’s great mining era!

Coastguards patrolling the peninsula looking for smugglers originally created the Coast Path with its old stone stiles and walls. They literally had to check in every inlet so their cliff top walk was well used and it is a fundamental part of the attraction of being in Cornwall.

Coast Path and the Townroath in the distance.

Heather and gorse along the path.

We have company; Andrea, with her dog and campervan arrived this morning! 

One of my pleasures this celebratory year has been to connect with the people I know in the world. Andrea and I met when we both lived in France, and here we are, 30 years later, walking, talking and sitting on a pavement bench in St. Agnes, munching on Cornish pasties, drinking ginger beer and reconnecting.

Fred, Sharon and Andrea
Bridging 30 years - France 1986 and Cornwall 2016!

H is for Heligan: finding The Giant

Andrea recommended a visit to Heligan en route to Fowey and we marvelled at the story of the rebuilding of this historic Cornwall estate. It was a self sufficient community for centuries and WWI changed everything. It fell into disuse, brambles taking over and it took the vision and work of Tim Smit since 1990 to recreate its former glory.

Fred bought a children's book called The Giant by Sandra Horn and Karen Popham for Baby Hadfield, as The Giant is the star attraction for children in the garden - and for me too.

Joy of a garden!

B is for Bubbles: two times 60 celebrating

A bottle of Taitinger.
A sunset over Fowey.
A who would have thought moment for Andrea and me, both celebrating our sixtieth birthdays with a little bit of French panache.

S is for summer in St. Ives: people at leisure

St. Ives, high and dry at low tide.

Height of summer, St. Ives beaches.

Seeing Ashleigh for lunch in St. Ives, last time we met was in the Bahamas
for Craig and Shawni's wedding!

 Pretty as a picture, St. Ives in the sunshine.

Our plan was to ride the train into St. Ives from St. Erth, but a local fire disrupted the service. So we walked the Coast Path instead, parking at Carbis Bay and following the sweep of the bay with lovely views across to St. Ives.

It is peak season.  The summer crowds make for some interesting viewing, beach after beach is colourful with wind shields, umbrellas, children with buckets, nets and spades, people milling, some happy some decidedly grumpy, I manage by being among it all but keeping apart at the same time.

Our lunch hook up with Ashleigh was so nice. We spent the hours chatting and bemusedly watching the tide of people pass our window seat. I rather enjoyed my Cornish Cider and fresh crab linguine too.

Fred and I pottered among the crowds along the narrow back streets of St. Ives, found Cornish cheeses and mushrooms for breakfast before heading back to our timeshare to watch Rio 2016.

L is for Lizard: most southerly point, Cornwall

Kynance Cove from the Coast Path, Lizard.

From the furtherest west at Land's End yesterday, to furtherest south in Cornwall today. We headed to Lizard, and even with the summer crowds it was peaceful and beautiful. I chose the walk for today because I loved its name: "Three sides of the Lizard"! And for the possibility of seeing Cornish Choughs, still no sight of these iconic coastal birds but the walking along the undulating high cliffs was a delight. 

As were the Cornish Pasties from a bake shop tucked behind a house in one of the side roads of Lizard. I carried these hot pasties and we found a spot with a view and enjoyed them immensly. Ah, when in Cornwall....Just as well we spend many hours on a path, the salted caramel ice creams are rather good too.

Rugged cliff top walking with the delicate detail along the way.

Beauty of a coastal walk from Lizard.

S is for South West Coast Path: walking on the wild side in Cornwall

Over styles, across moors and spectacular views!

On the Coast Path.

An afternoon on the South West Coast Path was our first introduction the to beauty of the Cornish coastline, the moors and its fascinating mining history. We peeped at land's End, but quickly moved on, it has a tourist luckiness. 

Walking from Cape Cornwall we were treated to the remnants of the tin mining industry, chimneystacks, engine houses, old walled paths, mounds of waste rock from the mines, kerstels hovering, bees in the heather, thorny brambles along the stone walls....

I can see why this part of England has inspired writers and artists. The photos speak for themselves.

Z is for Zawn a Bal: a dramatic Cornish mining site

"Zawn - a fissure in a cliff (used as a word and also as a place-name element, in use after the year 1800, from Cornish language sawen, or saven, meaning a cleft or gully. Bal, Cornish for a mine."

Dramatic Zawn a Bal

The most westerly Cornish Mining World Heritage Site is around St. Just. 

We had a perfect Sunday afternoon to appreciate the big skies of western Cornwall, the jagged rocks and cliffs, the stark moorland purple with heather and delicate summer flowers adding pops of colour as we walked along the Coast Path.

The engine house called Zawn a Bal is a wonder with its dramatic location; it floats above the crashing waves of the Atlantic Ocean on a cliff edge!