Tales of summer- Part 1.
I arrived in Penzance on a Friday & had some lunch, then eventually found the youth hostel I had stayed in more than 20 years ago, it seemed to be a lot further out of town than I had remembered. The new rucksack was now filled with rain gear rather than swim wear. The Cornish swimming holiday will be in Tales of summer Part 2, further down the line.
It was hit or miss whether the gig at The Minack theatre would be on due to the weather forecast predicting rain all night.
A 10 minute walk up hill from the bus stop. I got a bus from Penzance, last bus of the day is around 7pm going back.
Apparently the wind was westerly blowing which means it is more gentle and the rain was also very fine. I took a bus from PENZANCE TO PORTHCURNO. It had been years since I Had visited and previously had always got a lift, from a friend. It was so beautiful to arrive and the rain didn’t spoil it.
View from the top of the hill.
One of the things I love about Cornwall is the wild flowers everywhere.
I walk the line, the rocky road to the Atlantic coast.
This exotic flower is similar to the one I found in a xmas bouquet in Sainsburys which I painted.
Minack Theatre an outside theatre built into the rocks overlooking the Atlantic.
Mellow Yellow.
Waiting for The Magic Numbers…
Mixing desk in tent at gig.
Making the most of a rainy evening at The Minack.
Visting St Ives
There was more rain to come all day Saturday and I struggled to decide what to do. I wanted to walk some of the SW coastal walk but I thought it would be better to do Sunday as the weather looked clear and dry for Sunday.
Teetotal Street in St Ives.
Pathway along st Ives coast line.
wild flowers along the way
After a quick visit to St Ives I decided to head back to Penzance and by early evening went to the cinema and watched The Salt Path,
Wild flowers of Penzance grow out of rocks all over town.
The Salt Path is a ‘true story’ about a couple’s bad luck The husband gets a diagnosis of a rare disease, then they have their home repossessed and are jobless.
They decide to walk the whole of the South west coastal path around 250 miles. It was a moving film, which really captured the emotion of being truly out there with nothing much to live on.
https://numetro.co.za/movie/6774/
I had met a German woman at the ‘Youth’ hostel, who had just done this. It’s definitely doable. If you have the time.
Later that evening I headed to a place in a small village east of Penzance called Gulval . This was the 1st time I had been here .
It was a bit out of town. The following morning I got the map out and found my bearing & figured that I could start walk from Long Rock to St Michaels Mount and take it from there.
Gulval , a small village East of Penzance
Walking towards St Michaels Mount.
St Michaels Mount
As I arrived at the town of Marazion, unsure how to get back onto the South West Coast Path, I asked someone in a shop who told me it was past the graveyard, she didn’t add how far the graveyard was -as I was walking for a while and did not see it.
A bus approached as I was walking out of town , so I jumped on it, not sure where to go It was a toss up between Perranuthnoe or Praa sands,
During the last couple of days it had been difficult to fit into a weekend the various walks and places on my list. At this point the choices were limited and therefore the option to walk from Praa Sands towards Penzance, made sense and Perranuthnoe was a difficult name to remember or pronounce to the bus driver.
After a minute, we passed the graveyard!, where I then saw the sign to the coastal path. too late.
A German woman on the bus was reading a novel by Ann Cleeves, she told me the best stops to get off. I was tempted to get into a conversation about Vera (the TV show) based on the author Anne Cleeves, crime fiction, but left it so I could focus on where I was going.
Praa Sands is a surfers paradise; but without my surf board it wasn’t much fun!, instead I followed my hunches and headed away from the beach up into the cliff tops.
The pathway for the most part is fairly clear, it is fairly popular and there were quite a few people walking without it being overpopulated.
SW COASTAL PATHWAY HEADING FROM PRAA SANDS TOWARDS PENZANCE
PRUSSIA COVE
Abandoned cottage on South West Coastal path.
This house was used as the location for the film Ladies in Lavender .
I have seen the film and enjoyed it, the story is about a couple of old ladies (Judi Dench & Maggie Smith) who rescue a washed up violin player and nurse him only to lose him to a beautiful young women. (in short!)
SEA & ROCKS I’m in Cornwall.
Walking from Perranuthnoe towards Penzance with the view of St Michaels Mount on horizon. Praa Sands is followed by Perranuthnoe, heading towards Penzance.
Tales of summer continues
Before Cornwall ,on a very sunny day on May 31st, I led a group walk from Faversham to Whitstable. Despite the train cancellations and chaos in the morning, most people arrived in one piece. It’s a fairly straightforward walk, but quite long, about 11-12 miles.
This felt like a summers day but still officially in spring- I guess It can be included in Tales of Summer.
My main walking companion who decided to walk extremely fast with me, which meant, we had to stop a lot to wait for the slow ones.
As I was leading, I was obliged to keep up with the girl who walked with me at the front, despite asking her to slow down a bit so others can keep up.
After arriving in Whitstable, . a few of us went to The Smack for a cold drink. I then went for a very quick swim further up the road past Whistable Harbour.
There were about 14 people on the walk, some who walked fast and some very slow.
Tide was out but later at Whitstable it was in and I managed to have the shortest swim ever.
More summer tales to be had
There are a couple of walks I want to do before summer ends, 1 is Bristol to Bath or vice versa. The 2nd is an Essex walk there are varying ways to do it but either way would start or end at Grayson Perry’s house for Julie!
more on that next time.
Keep on Keeping on.
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