Isla on holiday with Ganny and Gandalf.

Beach fun

Sunny afternoon on Sennen beach. Bargains at Hayle boot sale included a bbq and Isla's wet suit which she was eager to put to the test.

Pollack and chips

The art of fish and chips has been beyond me until getting a small fryer for Xmas and now the chipper is open. Pollack is the best fish I have found for the flour egg, breadcrumbs treatment. Fast food with home made chips just need to get the seasoning right. Beer batter maybe ?

Scallops

Newlyn fish frenzy as they see me coming at 1pm to scoop up all the bargains. £5 for a bag of scallops that needed preparing but all part of the fun. Not much left after the mud and guts but cooked a score of them in bacon fat and served them in their shells. Milts for breakfast which are either herring roe or something more worrying. They were dipped in seasoned flour and fried up on toast, a Cornish speciality, if you can get over what they may be...

Summer arrived today

Rising to blue skies and the sounds of songbirds. Only one way to go, up and out to Nanjizal on a cliff walk in the clear light of a fresh morning. Soon down to a t-shirt as the sun kicked in. Views across to the Scillies where a Newlyn boat went down last week. Sennen lifeboat pulled some of the crew off and a helicopter the rest. One day it is summer and the next its dreek. Ansum today though. All this granite and radon seeps through the bones and connects with our ancestral past in this cemetery walk round the cairns and burial mounds if the mapping man is to be believed. I thought I saw a chough but probably a ubiquitous crow and a sea eagle but probably a buzzard. Thoughts of a day out receded as the sun lit up the front room and coffee, papers and the rugby filled a lazy Sunday. A walk on Sennen beach and catching the sunset on Maen cliff rounded out a stunning March day. The gorse smells of coconuts and I made a posy of violets...

Cycle ride to Newlyn

Hosts of golden daffodils in the fields around St Buryan where there was a farmers market and a hunk of pate and a loaf for the journey. The views to Carn Brea where one is afforded a 360 degree panorama of Penwith. Mousehole harbour and the holiday destination of the second home owner. Peculiarly devoid of real life unlike bustling Newlyn which has a real fishing community. Captain Laurence was helping with the painting of three luggers in the old harbour. Each designed with keels for different harbours of Newlyn, Mounts Bay and St Ives. Folk painted the boats and then painted the boats themselves. Lots of arty stuff as the Newlyn tradition lives on. No paella though so a disappointed cyclist journeyed on to Madron and Newbridge up onto the Penwith moors, land that time forgot and mystical monuments and stone circles. The hills were taking their toll so a cuppa at Lee's and a walk with George into the wilderness before a slog in the rain back to Sennen. The bike takes all the effort out of riding so one can enjoy the dramatic landscape. Why bikes need razor seats is a mystery so will get another comfy one from Aldi.

Camellias in Trengwainton Gardens

Isla

Porthcurno beach, building dens, too many chocolate biscuits, family breakfasts, reading princess books and helping Daddy with the washing up.