On the Coastal footpath again.

A day with practically no commitments and a very favourable weather forecast. What to do? Head for the Coastal Footpath, of course. Specifically, Bude, to complete just a few more miles of our pan-Cornwall goal.

Our route started and ended just by the lock gates of the Bude Canal. It was around 6.5 miles, of which 3 were actually on the Coastal Footpath. Not a dramatic stretch by any means but very pleasant walking with some enjoyable seascapes. Sadly, it was just a little before the wild flowers are on show.

Looking north towards Northcott Mouth.

In the distance are the white domes of GCHQ Bude, also known as GCHQ Composite Signals Organisation Station Morwenstow^, abbreviated to GCHQ CSO Morwenstow. It is a satellite ground station, eavesdropping centre and blot on the landscape.

Looking westwards back along the coast. In the distance Tintagel can just about be made out, not that there are distinguishing features to help with this.

Crooklets Beach, just to the north of the centre of Bude. A good surfing beach by all accounts, but aren't they all around these parts?

Quite a few Whinchats were flitting around. A sign that summer is almost with us.

A lone (and very brave) swimmer in the Open Air Pool at Bude. She reminded me of the Blue Tits of Pembrokeshire, a ladies swimming group from the St David's area. Yes, they do exist. A friend is one, or should that be two, of them.

Geology has passed me by but even I can recognise the folds in these rocks. From above, this formation had depth and height and gave the appearance of an amphitheatre.

Oi! Ewe are you looking at?

At various points on the walk, we came across these slates. What did they signify? Hooray for Mr Google who came up with this extract from a local newspaper.

"BLEND Bude Youth Collective are taking on a brand new challenge to raise money and awareness for suicide prevention in young people on Sunday, March 10.

Their mission is to walk over six miles from Morwenstow to Bude, along the coastal path to raise money for the charity, PAPYRUS, prevention of suicide in young people. They will be carrying a ‘worry box’ containing real worries from members of the youth collective, which will be written on slates. In total this will weigh around 10kg! As the journey unfolds members will leave worries at certain mile stones along the way. This is to highlight the burden of worry and doubt, showing how heavy and hard to bare they can be. But also, how sharing them with others and letting others help can lighten the load and eventually through a little hardship and struggle, those worries can be left behind". Well done them.

A Blue Plaque in the centre of Bude. Some things should never be forgotten. I think I've overdone the vignetting on this one.

Pacem the dog lovers I know but this is wrong at so many levels.

Just a sign high up on an old warehouse that intrigued me. Mr Google turned up the nugget that Kent & Co were bakery engineers of Southern Grove, Bow. Sadly they no longer exist and I suspect that this old sign was decorative rather than functional. I wonder how it got there.

Carved on a very welcome seat at the top of a steep flight of steps. It's taken from the poem Hsin Hsin Ming by the Chinese Zen patriarch Jianzhi Sengcan. The full stanza is: “The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. When love and hate are both absent everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the smallest distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart. If you wish to see the truth then hold no opinion for or against. The struggle of what one likes and what one dislikes is the disease of the mind.”  Think about it: it's true.

Coast and Canal.

A half and half sort of walk in more ways than one. Half coast and half canal: half dry and half wet. But still good to get out even though the tragic events at Westminster were on everybody's mind.

Our route started and ended at the 'top' car park at Widemouth Bay just sou th of Bude. We followed the coast for roughly half the walk and then along the Bude canal for most of the rest. 

Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside, I do like to be beside the sea! A blowy day and the surf was up along Widemouth Bay. Here, we are looking south along what is one of the most popular surfing beaches in Cornwall.

A little further up the coast and the geology becomes more apparent.

Strange things by the wayside Part XXV: a barrowload of books. For a small donation to a local charity, coastal footpath walkers have the opportunity to laden themselves down with a few hardback tomes. I wonder how many succumb to the temptation?

Yet another seascape. Can't get enough of them.

The Coastguard Tower on the cliffs just outside of Bude. Known locally as the Pepper Pot, it was built c 1810 as a refuge for the coastguard, it was also an ornamental feature on the Efford Estate and part of Bude’s ambitious development plans. The octagonal tower, with the points of the compass carved as a frieze, was re-sited c. 1900 due to the eroding cliffs.  It was dismantled and rebuilt further inland but unfortunately seven degrees out of alignment. And it is, because I checked against the compass on my GPS.

A very early show of anemones in a sheltered spot by the harbour in Bude. They haven't even started showing above the ground in our garden

I didn't even know that there were elvers around this part of the world. Elver pasties anyone? What an awful thought but it might go down well with unsuspecting tourists.

The sea lock gates of the Bude Canal.

He was keeping a beady eye on our lunch and we were keeping an equally beady eye on his beak. He seemed to be in a passive/aggressive mood.

Lots of the male flowers of the pussy willow around.

A Grey Heron stalking fish or frogs or anything edible.

Heron in flight

Ditto. I've got a fast shot sequence of about 200 like this but I'll spare you them all.

Beware! Red rabbits? Not really, it's just warning walkers that there may be hares around. Apparently there is a scheme to reintroduce them on some pasture land nearby.

One last seascape at the end of the walk. Just over 6 miles and a good stretch.

A weekend in Cornwall

We've had some good friends to stay for the weekend and we took the opportunity to do a little local sight-seeing. Day 1 took in the Bude Canal and Crackington Haven and Day 2, Padstow, Wadebridge and Daymer Bay. Here are a few photographs as a record of a couple of very enjoyable days.

Bude Canal: Grey Heron

Bude Canal: a gaggle of Canada Geese.

Bude Canal: something we'd never seen before - a Grass Snake in the water

Bude Canal: something else we've never seen before - a Kingfisher. This one was extremely accommodating and stayed in a bush for many minutes as we all enjoyed seeing it. It proved to be quite an attraction and there was a crowd of us peering at it for a long time.

Bude Canal: we haven't seen one of these before either

Bude Canal: just one more of the one hundred shots I took of the Kingfisher

Crackington Haven: a welcome swim at the end of a hot day. Mrs P beat me into the waves

Padstow: harbour view

St Enedoc's church (Daymer Bay): twelfth century. At one time it was buried by the neighbouring sand dunes and the priest had to climb in through the roof to give services to maintain its consecration

St Enedoc's church (Daymer Bay): flowers from a wedding adorned the entrance

St Enedoc's church (Daymer Bay): a slate plaque from the wall of a side chapel. The captain of the brig was found guilty of manslaughter at a trial after the tragic event. He had taken a route into Padstow harbour which was known to be dangerous and certainly not recommended by the Admiralty

 

St Enedoc's church (Daymer Bay): In keeping with my usual skulking around graveyards for WW1 graves, here's one with an intriguing story. Hooray for the internet.

 

The SS Armenian (originally SS India but renamed SS Armenian in commemoration of the genocidal actions of the Ottoman Empire) began her final and fateful voyage in early June 1915 with 175 men onboard. She was chartered to carry a cargo of 1,422 mules from the United States to Bristol in England. The animals, offspring of male donkeys and female horses, were intended as replacements for the horses that had been lost in fighting in France. At around 6:30pm on the 28th of June, while heading northeast off Trevose Head, Cornwall, a watchman on the Armenian sighted a German submarine. In what proved to be a hugely erroneous decision, Captain James Trickey ordered full steam in an attempt to outrun
the U-boat, which turned out to be the U-24. He was signaled to stop and surrender after two shots were fired across his bow, but he refused. The U-boat's commander, Rudolf Schneider, then opened fire with the deck gun, scoring several hits on the Armenian, one shot taking out the Marconi room.

 

After more than a dozen men lay dead or injured on the deck, Trickey finally agreed to surrender. Much to his surprise, he and the crew were treated well by the Germans from that point on. With several lifeboats damaged from the shelling, they were allowed to take the remaining boats and make for the Cornish coast. The Armenian was then sunk by two torpedoes fired into her stern. She went down in a matter of minutes.

The survivors were picked up the following day by the Belgian steam trawler President Stevens. Four of the injured died before they could be rescued. Twenty-nine men in total lost their lives, including nineteen Americans. The Armenian needed hands to tend to the mules, so many of the 175 men on board were muleteers who had been hired at Newport News, Virginia, before sailing. Of the twenty-nine fatalities, twelve were muleteers who refused to abandon
the animals for which they had developed sincere affection and respect, and preferred to go down with the ship. Most of them were African-Americans.

St Enedoc's church (Daymer Bay): Another intriguing memorial, this one to Christopher Runnalls of the 10th Duke of Cornwall Light Infantry. A little rooting around reveals that he was 34 when he died 'of wounds at home'. His medal roll suggests that he did not serve abroad and I assume that he was killed in some sort of military accident.

St Enedoc's church (Daymer Bay): an interior view of the church. It had a nice friendly feel.

St Enedoc's church (Daymer Bay): a vignette from an earlier time. A grant for extra seating with the proviso that they are all free. But subject to assignment by the Church Wardens.