Longships

The oft heard and ghostly fog horn which is sounded every ten seconds comes from this memorable landmark. Not today though as the view past Longships from Maen Cliff included a glimpse of the Isles of Scilly. One can only imagine the chaos caused by these rocks and the confluence of different bodies of water before the erection of the lighthouse in 1790. John Ruskin's painting suggests the, 'entire disorder of the surges.' On calm days of soft light the rocks suggest thoughts of the lost land of Lyonesse and the ghosts of the many seafarers who have foundered upon its pinnacles.

Sennen Mens' Club

Front page news in the Cornishman as trouble brews in the cove. The surf club, made up of kids and enthusiastic parents, have decorated the old 'mens' club' and given it a new purpose but have been turfed out by the parish council. Apparently they share the hut with the men of Sennen and have overstepped their remit and must have upset the wrong people. Obviously I have pre-conceived ideas and imagine some grumpy fisherfolk asserting their territorial rights. Iam willing to be proved wrong..

Sennen Lifeboat

A hardy fisherman and his seagulls await the launch of the lifeboat which is the focus of life for the people who live in the cove around the year ensuring that the new Tamar class 'City of London' is ready for anything. Tough guys...

Hot Rod

Mid-life crisis ?

Check out the new wheels on my souped up Golf. Alloy wheels, special steering wheel, tinted windows and funny exhaust. Only old giffers can afford the insurance so I got a good deal. Not sure if it is tickety boo but it got back to Sennen and beats the bus. Will be getting the furry dice tomorrow and ready to burn some rubber at the traffic lights. Wicked !

Sennen beach

Saturday on Sennen beach. Why do anything else ? Read the papers, watch the sea and then amble aimlessly around the cove. Taking photos adds to a sense of purpose and a good excuse to get out of the house. Once outside there is always lots to see as everyone has their own thing going on. Horse riding on the beach, throwing tennis balls for dogs to chase or twitching in the bushes as the birds find a warm solace from the bitter weather upcountry. The horses were taking for a swim before galloping across the sands.

The bench has an inscription ' a view he loved, a climb he didn't' and affords a wonderful view across Whitesands bay. A pause to stand and stare...

Isla's weekend

Isla went skipping in the snow with her Granny and threw snowballs at Daddy; put on a play about naughty wolves and wicked witches in the puppet theatre ; went horse riding with Lenin and stayed up late to watch the Ashes with Tommy Zoom. Thanks for a lovely weekend everybody. Fun, fun, fun...

Land's End

The short walk to the end of the land was transfigured into a snowy landscape. This area is full of cairns and I often meet a man who is mapping the area according to its mystical energy flows and convergence of ley lines. He feels the energy and thinks that the area is one big graveyard similar to the Egyptian pyramids as the Kings get buried higher up then the other lesser mortals get burial mounds further down the cliff. The granite has eroded so a lot of the lost land of Lyonesse is now supposedly under the sea between here and the Isles of Scilly which can be glimpsed in the distance. My mate in the know who wanders the hills also said that there is a £9billion NASA bunker up the road monitoring alien activity as this area is closest to the sun. He explained it all cogently but I understood little. He also said that he was standing on a Queen earlier as he feels the energy of the ancients and that there were people living on the dog star Sirius, but it is easy to mock. Maybe there is a whole earthly and heavenly system out there that science cannot explain like the Nazca lines and the Mayan and Egyptian civilisations and this esoteric knowledge is sought only by the savants amongst us who feel more in tune with the spritual world. There is a mystical feel to Penwith though which makes it wild and untamed and timeless. Or maybe it is just the radon getting to me...

Snowy Sennen

Cot Valley

There is a wonderful book, Penwith Moods by photographer David Chapman which provides an insight into the flora, fauna and geological oddities of this beautiful lanscape which is inspiring and informative and better than any reductive guide. It resounds with a passion for the place which the best writers have, once captivated with the need to explore and know more about their environment.

I am not going to nick from it but it inspired me to walk to St Just and see the special Cot Valley which is revered for its geological features and its sub-tropical plants. On a crisp November day there was little fauna except ragged looking bracken but rocks is rocks. Porth Nanven is the name of the beach with rounded 'dinosaur eggs'. The difference between the granite rocks on the beach worn smooth by the vicissitudes of the tides and the layers of sedimentary rock with random stomes caught in the sides of the valley wall is a geologist's dream. Our history is in them there stones. This area has been extensively mined although those heady times can only be imagined by the Choughs which apparently inhabit the valley now. I made the King's Arms just in time and got the Saturday papers in to read by a roaring fire. It is hard to make a pub pay these days but this place has done it properly with good food that people will come a long way for and the 'Proper Job' bitter I had made the long walk worthwhile. Last bus to Sennen 5.10pm though which was probably for the best as I was settling in...

Don't know what the alpaca thought but he was decidedly unhappy !

Paradise Park

Paradise Park is in Hayle, cradle of the industrial revolution, all the foundries and experiments with steam engineering can be seen in the somewhat forlorn ruins lying around this historic harbour. Students have been working with Hayle Social Enterprise Trust to try and regenerate this once proud town producing a film to promote it. The Cornish guys made things up as they went along, necessity was the mother of invention and James Watt nicked all the ideas and took them to Brum to patent.

We went over half-term to feed the penguins though and to see the massive rabbits and cheeky goats. Isla needed ice cream to get her through and the jungle barn with slides, ball pools, feral kids and crazy climbing activities was a dad's dream !

One day we will have a garden of rabbits. I will put pipes under a great mound and then cover them with earth a la Jean de Florette and we can lie in rabbit heaven. The tropical birds are the focus but nothing beats a feisty goat that we can feed and a play tractor !

In Rainbows

Isla loved the frequent sightings of rainbows in the bay and we had two dolphins over the October half-term who stayed for a few days in the warm waters. The view from the window is the entertainment in the daylight hours. The rain showers roll in in October with the south-westerlies and before long one can judge how long before the rain starts battering the windows.