Boris Johnson and I

Boris Johnson and I have one thing in common and that is that we are both products of our backgrounds. And that's where the similarity ends - our backgrounds give us each a completely different perspective on the world and, because of this, our politics. Here are two photographs that illustrate my point.

The first is of the man himself in his Bullington Club uniform. For those who do not know, this is a notorious drinking club at Oxford, the entry requirements for which seem to be loads of money, contacts and not minding acting like a knob. The photograph oozes arrogance, privilege and entitlement. And aren't these the character traits coming to the fore in the latest allegations of sleaze?

The second was taken in September 1936 outside of the Workmen's Hall in Bedwas just after the colliers had heard of the success of their stay-down strike at the Navigation Colliery. The sole girl amongst the crowd is my mother and my grandfather is just about visible to the right. This photograph oozes many things but certainly not arrogance or privilege.

We are both the products of our backgrounds but I think mine has given me a better set of principles to live by.

A Crackington Haven Cracker

Freedom! Or so it felt. Just passed another relaxation of the Lockdown restrictions and we ventured further afield for a walk along the coast. We haven't seen the sea this year and, like children, we were rather excited at the prospect.

We've done this walk a few times in the past but never from this direction. This time we started at Trevigue, followed the coastal footpath to Crackington Haven and then came back up the Ludon Valley to our starting point. This meant that it was downhill to the cafe (take a look at the elevation profile) at Crackington and then a relatively gentle ascent to Trevigue. It was just under 4 miles of quite easy walking.

Walking through a tunnel of Blackthorn blossoms...

....to come out to this view down the coast. Our first sight of the sea for months. But who saw it first? Me! Me! And I won the virtual non-existent prize. It brought back memories of day trips to Barry Island and straining to be the first to see the sea as the bus crested the hill at Wenvoe.

This beach is actually called The Strangles and gets its name from the treacherous tides and currents around it. In the days when trading boats sailed up and down the coast, some with shallow draughts were beached for loading and unloading. Their contents were transported up the cliffs on the backs of donkeys and the old donkey paths can be made out at various places - if you know what you are looking for

No, not a goat. It's a Soay sheep ram. There are a quite a few of them on the cliffs in these parts. They are derived from a line of feral sheep originating from the Island of Soay in the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. Very hardy and very adept at climbing cliff faces. The wool is much sought after by knitters.

Little Strand cove with the headland of Cambeak on the right. Only the brave - or foolhardy - try to get to the end of Cambeak. We are neither.

Lots of Blackthorn around at the moment. I've just come across the term 'Blackthorn Winter', which was used by countryfolk to describe a spell of cold weather in early April which often coincides with the blossoming of the blackthorn in hedgerows. The pure white of the blackthorn blossom, which appears before the leaves, matches the snow or hoar frost covering the fields nearby

A Stonechat on look-out duty amongst the gorse. Apart from a few gulls, the only birds around seemed to be Stonechats

A colourful mix of Gorse and Blackthorn on the cliffs going down into Crackington Haven.

A rather ragged looking Speckled Wood butterfly. The result of an unsuccessful bird attack, perhaps?

Looking back across Tremoutha Haven to Cambeak. This area is well known to geology students for the very visible folded sedimentary rock formations. In fact the village of Crackington gives its name to the Crackington formation, a sequence of Carboniferous sandstones and grey shales. Take a look at the rocks on the shore and that's what you see.

Until the nineteenth century, Crackington Haven itself was a small port similar to many others on the north coast of Cornwall. Limestone and coal were imported and slate and other local produce were exported. After the railways reached the district in 1893 the village could be reached more easily so holidaymaking became more common. It's not generally remembered that Crackington Haven was badly affected in 2004 by the flood that devastated Boscastle. The road bridge across the stream, several homes and the pub were damaged by floodwater at this time.

I'm glad they warned us about Cliff. He might be a local character but he's a right nutter. Best avoided.

Red Valerian is just coming into flower. Not a native plant and it was introduced from Europe in the 1600s. Quite widespread in these parts and a great source of nectar for many insects

Just a very nice stone wall, with a 'Jack and Jill' pattern from pieces of slate

The contrasting scenery on our route back to the car, following the stream (or river depending on your source) up the Ludon Valley

Devon, Devon Red or Red Ruby cattle are reknowned for their beef. A native breed of the West Country, they are thought to originate from pre-Roman Celtic times

The harbour entrance at Boscastle, with the tower of Forrabury Church just visible on the left

An infra-red looking across Tremoutha Haven

Yet another stone wall but this time in infra-red

A Speckled Wood in better condition than the one we saw earlier

Infra-red at Cotehele

Our 'usual' walk around Cotehele but this time with my Infra-red camera. For those who might be vaguely interested, I've set the white balance of the camera on green so greens appear as white on the images. Without this, the images come out as the more typical reds of IR. I find these rather difficult to interpret so rarely set the camera this way. Sometimes IR adds something, quite often it doesn't. It's always a voyage of discovery.

Calstock Viaduct

The front of Cotehele House

In my humble opinion, one of the most impressive trees in Cotehele's gardens

The giant metal bees in the beehive garden statue

Another view of the same

The pond in the Top Garden

The flag on the Tower is flying at half-mast for HRH Prince Philip

The flower border in front of the house

These were bright red tulips and the lens flare catches the sun quite nicely

The flower border and house

Looking down through the woods onto the Morden stream

The Morden Stream

Crane at Cotehele Quay

I think this was a winch when it was in use

One weekend: two walks

One weekend; two walks over the border in Devon. The first walk was a partial repeat of one we did last week and the other was a new one for us on the edge of the Devon Great Consols mining area.

The first walk was linear, utilising both cars as a shuttle. We started in the car park of the Methodist Chapel in Sydenham Damerel and walked back to the Scrubtor car park. It was just under three miles and was necessary to try and find a thermal top we thought we'd dropped the week before. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

From the car park, looking across to Bodmin Moor. If you know what you are looking at, you can pick out Caradon Hill and Sharpitor. The tower of the church in Sydenham Damerel is just visible on the left.

A male Orange Tip butterfly, quite common at this time of year. I don't think the Celandine it's perched on is one of its food plants.

Almost at the end of the walk, with Kit Hill in the distance. At this point, we were probably 5 or so miles from home.

Just a granite post with its drill markings. When we had got this far, we had not retrieved the thermal top and we had written it off. 

Our second walk of the weekend was a circular one based on the Scrubtor car park we've used a few times recently. This time we took the Wheal Maria Trail that took us onto part of the Devon Great Consols site and around Blanchdown Wood. As the profile shows, it was a fairly strenuous 4 miles. And, guess what? The thermal top turned up in a rucksack that we'd forgotten we'd used the previous week. Smiles all around.

What used to be coppiced deciduous woodland. It needs a little TLC if it's ever to function that way again.

Buzzards are a common sight and I like the way the edges of the feathers are fringed with halo of light.

And another shot of the same bird. I wonder what it's like to be able to fly...as free as a bird.

The spoil heaps at Wheal Maria. Originally a copper mine, for many years it was the largest producer of arsenic in the world. The heaps were the result of much processing further up the slope.

My walking companions for this one.

Looking across to the spoil heaps of Wheal Josiah. I won't go into these sites in any detail as we really need to go back and have a good potter around. We haven't been up here for years. Perhaps we'll go up one evening to see if we can hear the nightjars that are rumoured to reside in the woods.

There is more detail in the photograph than there might appear at first glance, At the bottom can be seen the River Tamar and, in the middle, some buildings associated with the Gunnislake Clitters mine. Another site we really should revisit.

A Peacock butterfly. Beautiful to look at and, if I was a potential predator, I think those threatening eye-patterns would put me off attempting a meal. Its Latin name, Aglais io, is as delightful as its appearance.