September in Cornwall

If it's September it has to be Cornwall. Port Quin to be precise. After eight successive years at Doyden, we are on our sixth year at Lacombe, the cottage in white in the photo above. Our journey down on Thursday was fine except for the very heavy showers encountered all the way down the A30. However it had not rained at Port Quin and we arrived (as usual) to lovely afternoon sunshine. A short walk up to Doyden Castle and we were sitting overlooking the inlet.

In the evening we enjoyed a lovely sunset from our garden.

 

On Friday were expecting a visit from my brother John and his wife in the afternoon, so in the morning it was a drive into Wadebridge and a 5 mile run down the Camel Trail towards Padstow. Lunch at our favourite cafe The Granary before a walk along the beach at Polzeath.

It was great to see John and Jan and we were fortunate that we were able to sit outside in the afternoon sun before a walk up to Doyden Castle and an improvised dinner with some World Cup Rugby in the evening.

Saturday afternoon was already booked, so in the morning we walked from the cottage along the coastal path towards Polzeath.

We were back in time for some lunch before making our way up the hill to Scarrabine Farm, the base for Cornish Coast Adventures and our first go at Sea Kayaking.

I had thought Alison had booked for the Introduction Session, but no. It was straight into the much longer Explorer Session, sharing a double kayak. Fortunately there was only one other couple there, and it was also their first time. At the base, our instructor Sam explained the safety aspects and what we might be doing. We donned our wet-suits and life jackets and made our way back to the harbour.

The double kayaks are pretty heavy and, it being close to low tide, meant we had to carry and pull them to the water. Fortunately the weather was extremely calm and the kayaks are very stable. We stayed in the harbour to begin with, trying out the techniques of paddling, turning etc. Then it was out of the harbour and into the (CALM!) open sea. A few waves but nothing unsettling. We made our way to a narrow cove where Sam had us turning round, just as picture above shows.

We then headed down the coast. This was quite tiring but the views were superb. We stopped a couple of times to take in the scenery, then on again a little more out to sea. Sam took this brilliant photo of us as we turned around the headland. Calm sea and blue skies.

More photos, this time courtesy of Sarah from outside her cottage next door to our's. We are in the front in the green kayak.

When it was time to return, the tide had changed and the paddling seemed easier. But we still had a fair way to pull our kayak back along the rocky shore. All in all, quite an experience.

It was such a lovely late afternoon that we drove to Polzeath and walked along the beach.

Nearly every year we do the same thing on the Sunday. Alison runs from the cottage along the coastal path to Rock and takes the ferry to Padstow. I have driven there and parked by the harbour. Normally I hire a bike to cycle down the Camel Trail, but this year it was a 5.6 mile run, being in training for my first half marathon. We met back at the car and made our way to Stein's Fish and Chips for lunch. We always used to go to the Quaside cafe but since it closed a couple of years ago, we haven't found anywhere to match it. Until now. The wooden tables are "cosy" but the food was great.

The weather had turned cloudy in the afternoon, so we headed back to the cottage for a rest and the Sunday papers.

On Monday it actually rained first thing in the morning, and there were showers on our way to the NT car park at Carnewas above Bedruthan Steps. But it was sunny when we arrived, eating our sandwiches at a table on the grass. As the tide was in, we headed down the coastal path towards Mawgan Porth.

Last year we found this to be an excellent walk and it was the same this year. There are great views of the bay as you descend to a lovely sandy beach. Very few people around.

Lots of caves to explore.

We had brought a flask and had a coffee sitting on a rock before making the return route to Bedruthan Steps. The approach from the cliff path is always wonderful.

Then down the narrow and vertiginous staircase to the beach below.

Lots to explore here, and as it was low tide we managed to scramble over some rocks blocking the way to another (this time completely deserted) beach on the other side.

We just had to make sure that as the tide was turning, we didn't get cut off! But being alone on a superb isolated beach was great.

Then back to the main beach where the tide was beginning to come in fast.

It was late afternoon (6pm) before we left, again being very lucky with the weather.

Tuesday started with another run down the Camel Trail, this time ten and a half miles for me. Starting again at Wadebridge, this took me all the way to Bodmin and back. Alison found it very breezy on her run towards Padstow, but mine was sheltered and went fine. Another visit to The Granary for lunch. A trip to the shop for provisions and a restful afternoon as we had to start early evening for Watergate Bay and Jamie Oliver's restaurant Fifteen.

 We had a table next to the long glass wall, with great views of the sunset. And, of course, a wonderful meal. (It should be for that price!)

On Wednesday morning we decided to go bodyboarding at Polzeath, that's thirteen years since we first tried this. There was little breeze but the waves were good with the incoming tide. It was fairly quiet when we started but it had become quite busy by the time we came out. We grabbed a take out coffee before getting back tot the cottage for a hot bath, a late lunch and some world cup rugby. Later in the afternoon we took the short drive into Port Isaac for a coffee on a bench in the harbour and a stroll around the town. It actually started a light drizzle as we made our way back to the car park!

Thursday (the first of our extra two days) started with another Camel Trail run, a lovely sunny morning. Then back to the cottage to change before setting out on a walk to Pentire Head from the NY car park above Lundy Bay, a very short drive away. After about twenty minutes the sky darkened and it lashed it down with rain. Not forecast. Actually showers had merged into a nasty band of rain). We couldn't see a break in the surrounding darkness and had become soaked despite our lightweight kagools. So we started back, only for the weather to start clearing. So we decided to carry on with the walk and were very glad we did as the sun came out. A late lunch at Rumps was very welcome, especially as we had this view from where we sat.

Then on to Pentire Head, stopping for Alison to take a photo for two couples on a similar route. Only to find that one of them was an old boss of hers. Amazing.

It was not far until we reached our destination with views to Polzeath.

And the Camel Estuary with Padstow on the right.

We were quite tired when we arrived back, but it was a lovely sunny early evening.

Friday wask a repeat of what we do nearly every year on our last day. We park at Rock, and sit on a bench with views to Padstow across the estuary.

 Then a walk to Daymer Bay along the beach.

Then the ferry across to Padstow.

Buy a pastie and take it up the hill to a bench overlooking the bay.

Then walk on further to another beach before returning for an ice cream by the harbour.

Finally some shopping and the ferry back. Back at Lacombe, we sat outside to read. Another sunny day, but cool in the shade.

On Saturday morning we did the same as last year. having packed the night before, it was an early start to load the car and get to Lanhydrock Parkrun for 9am. Another sunny morning. It must be the hardest course of all the Parkruns in the country. There is hardly any part that is level, and the hills are so steep. But a very pretty route.

We had tea and cake in the big new cafe near the car park before having a tour of the gardens.

The views from the top path are fabulous.

So it was early afternoon before we set off for home. A great way to finish our holiday.

Tring Book Club - The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters

I had never before read anything by Sarah Waters. Although I actually did start "The Nightwatch" and gave up after twenty pages. But her latest was a book club choice so I was stuck. I found the first half to be a terrific read. The setting of Champion Hill was beautifully described and the post war London of 1922 seemed a wonderful place. Whether on her walks around the city or taking a tram, this was the place to be for Frances.

She and her mother are from a good family, down on their luck after the death of Frances' father, and having to rent out rooms in their big old house that reminded me dramatically of my grandmother's in a leafy, classy part of Sheffield. Their relationship with their lodgers is central to the story which turns half way through from a domestic drama into something else completely.

I enjoyed the number of set pieces, Frances' trips to Central London, the cemetery with her mother, the party, Snakes and Ladders, the park and later nerve shredding events. The author has constructed a clever plot and is very good at dialogue. My only reservations were that the second half is so completely different to the first with the twists and turns of a mainstream thriller. The story itself is almost completely told in a linear structure, but in a way that was good as being different from so many modern novels that consistently backtrack.

So overall, a long book but one that had me hooked. I cannot avoid mentioning the relationship between Frances and Lillian. This was all new to me.

The Blue Flower, England and Other Stories and Fallout

After enjoying Penelope Fitzgerald's "Offshore" (a book club choice) and "The Bookshop", I was looking forward to reading her prizewinning novel "The Blue Flower". But what a disappointment. She had obviously done an enormous amount of research into the life of Fritz von Hardenberg (the future "great romantic poet and philosopher") at the end of the eighteenth century. But turning this into a novel fell into the trap where most of what happens is pretty mundane and repetitive. So we get lots of dates and what looks like verbatim conversations taken from various documents. At it's heart is his love for twelve year old Sophie von Kuhn, something that I found quite distasteful, even for those times. However there are occasions when the author's trademark wit and lightness of touch produce some wonderful sentences: "but now he was a married man, they said, he had someone else to do the thinking for him". And later "Everyone knows how best to move a piano, or rather, how it should be moved". But these are few I'm sorry to say.

I always prefer a traditional novel to a book of short stories, but as Graham Swift is one of my favourite writers, I could not resist "England and Other Stories", a collection of twenty five very short pieces. The problem now is that they are now very difficult to recall. I guess it is because it is the last one that sticks in the memory, a stranded car on a deserted road at 5.30am. But all the others were captivating at the time, always ingenious and poignant. Nearly every time you want to hear more of the story, but I guess that is the point of this particular format.

For anyone interested in the theatre (and that's me), this is a terrific read. I loved "The Outcast", the first novel from Sadie Jones and "Fallout" is equally good. Mainly set in London in 1972, her latest book is a well plotted story of friendships and affairs where the young characters try to make their various ways in the theatre. I felt the book pulled you in to their world and I could relate really well to their dingy flats and little money that reminded me of my days in Chiswick. This was an intoxicating novel with a stirring ending.

A Visit to Highgate Cemetery

The main purpose of my visit to Highgate Cemetery was to visit the grave of my Great Great Grandmother Ellen Roberts, the subject of my previous post. There is a fee of £40 for The Friends of Highgate Cemetery to search their records, locate the grave and provide an escort to where it can be found. I received a letter setting out the results of their searches.

I then made arrangements to be taken to the grave in the East Cemetery (saving the normal £4 entrance fee for adults) last Thursday and at the same time booked a tour of the West Cemetery in the afternoon. You are only allowed in the West Cemetery on a tour.

I was very lucky with the weather, it was sunny all day but not too warm. I found it difficult to know where to park as all the advice on the internet was that parking was prohibited between the hours of 10 am and 12 noon. As I was aiming to arrive around 11 am, I thought there might be parking meters somewhere. I just didn't expect five  such spaces (with only one taken) to be right outside the cemetery where I could pay £2 to see me through to free parking after midday.

It had only been an hours drive so I was early for my appointment at noon. However the lady who was to take me to the grave was free and we made our way to the location using the free map of the East Cemetery.

 We started off on the main footpath (the line coloured purple above) and took the fork to our right heading downhill.

After an approximately a 3 minute walk, turn right on a small path just before these monuments. This guide is for future reference and for anyone wanting to visit the grave.

About 32 paces up this small path look right.

The monument right at the back is the grave of Ellen Roberts and her son John Shearwood Roberts. You have to clamber over some other graves in the wilderness to get there.

Once we arrived, the lady left me to take some photos. The grave itself is covered in ivy, but the monument is in reasonable condition.

There are inscriptions on the plinths.

At the top it says "In Ever Loving Memory of" then the next "ELLEN ROBERTS Born August 1834 Died May 1914  Of Eternal Life  ....  In Sure and Certain Hope of the Resurrection". The bottom plinth says "Also JOHN SHEARWOOD ROBERTS Son of the above Born 12 May 1857 Died 15 February 1921. A Considerate and Affectionate Son ???????? and Devoted and Generous and Faithful".

The inscriptions are in metal and some have fallen off. While I was writing down the words, there was another visitor to the grave.

As I had arrived early, I had plenty of time to wander around the East Cemetery. The most obvious point of interest is the impressive grave and monument to Karl Marx.

I had plenty of time for lunch as the tour of the West Cemetery didn't start until 1.45pm. I noticed on the map that next door to the East Cemetery entrance is Waterlow Park, somewhere I had never heard of. This is a gem.

The park is laid out on the hillside and one of the most attractive places I have ever seen. Absolutely stunning.

It even has views across to the city with lots of benches to take in the sights.

There were sixteen of us on the West Cemetery Tour.

Lots of interesting information from Gordon, the tour leader and some fascinating tombs to discover.

There are lots more on my web album or on the Highgate Cemetery website. A thoroughly worthwhile day.