Although geographically constrained by the ocean, the far west of Cornwall has a great deal of “wiggle room” – opportunities to use a bicycle as a means to strengthen my connection to my home, with the added drama of winter weather.
Tag: Cornwall
Prussia Cove Permadrizzle
Drizzly, atmospheric winter conditions for a quick sea kayak spin up the coast for some swelly rock-hopping around Cudden Point and Prussia Cove.
Penwith Pootle
Hitting the eject button with a two-day micro-adventure close to home in the far west of Cornwall. Linking together a bunch of muddy tracks and trails with a night on the cliffs made for a perfect journey of (re)discovery.
In The West
Cornish lockdown riding diaries; time for reflection & reconnecting with my local area – a spiritual place with a deep connection to the ages.
Dolphins etc
It has been a while since I posted anything of a sea kayaking flavour; when I have been out I haven’t been taking a camera. Sometimes I just can’t be bothered with a camera, it’s nice just to go paddling with mates without thinking about photos. After all there is no particular imperative beyond just having a few snaps by way of a record of a good day out with friends. My camera isn’t really …
Various
On reaching the mighty age of six my brother and I were given a small secondhand mono tape deck. It was my first exposure to music independence and, despite being extremely basic, was something I found completely marvellous. Along with it came a ‘ripped’ cassette with only a hand scrawled ‘various’ on the paper insert which turned out to mean ‘something of a mishmash of stuff’. The reason I mention it is that this post …
Spring. Maybe.
After my last post I had thought I might follow up with some apparently intelligent thoughts around things I wanted to say but on reflection realised that all that would have come out would have been an angry rant around a particular set of topics.. for example the environment, consumerism, the government.. or indeed the political classes in general (not fit for purpose), cars.. especially ridiculous cars like giant luxury 4x4s, otherwise known in these parts, …
Year end pictures
Almost the last day of the year. It’s raining, as per normal, and for once I’m trying to be grown up by getting on with some of the jobs that need doing when you live in a 200+ year old heap of granite… like fixing, filling, and painting. Inevitably however things like paint need time to dry, and frequent tea breaks are required so I thought I might just use this opportunity throw a few pictures …
Godrevy Light
Built in 1858-59, essentially in response to the loss with all hands of the steamer SS Nile in 1854, the lighthouse at Godrevy is very much a feature of life around here. Just down the road, Godrevy is the place I run, well.. ride, to when I need to {frequently} get away from my desk for a bit, regardless of weather. The view of the lighthouse on the island is a well-known picture postcard view from this part …
A splash of sunshine
It turns out there is enough room and reason, just, to squeeze in one more post before the end of the year. Just pictures… the sun shone and the surf was pumping a couple of days ago so I caught up with a couple of my surf kayaking friends at the beach. To a degree I’ve been actively avoiding the sea the last few months hence the lack of sea/surf kayak flavoured posts, for which …
Bicycle book-ending
Every year around this time, well.. always on the 24th, around lunchtime, to be precise, I load my bike and pedal east to the ‘ancestral home’ for a couple of days. I find the bike ride there and back makes a terrific, and deeply satisfying ‘book-end’ to a lovely family Christmas… it’s also a super opportunity to enjoy the nostalgia associated with childhood and Christmas and so on by riding around all the lanes and backroads …
More Beach
There are days when I just need to be by the sea.. usually when, for whatever reason, I can’t be in it or on it… or on my bike. I don’t go to the beach to take pictures but I do take pictures at the beach. A beautiful autumn day yesterday with light winds and hazy, warm sunshine… so that was my morning. With kilometres of empty sand to enjoy, a couple of hours of idle …
A Small Wave
On Sunday there was a small but clean wave coming into the bay. Still feeling tired and a bit wobbly – not quite strong enough to get in the water myself but in dire need of some involvement with both my friends and the waves at some level I went along my camera… hence this post.
Misty Trip East
I’ve been utterly uninspired to take pictures from my kayak since returning from Mingulay. Summer light on the ocean is rarely that interesting, I much prefer the drama of winter days afloat. Yesterday however I thought I could be bothered – but just my old GF2 + 28mm in its housing because it makes a very small package and I don’t mind too much having it on my deck. As it happened conditions were OK for pictures..
Revisiting Summer
Having been utterly lacking with regard to motivation to write anything recently I thought I might make the effort to tell a very brief story of a regression to the summers of my childhood. Not that I ever grew up or anything it’s just that those warm summer days with their soundtrack of skylarks high above the fields of ripening wheat and the hum of bees around the wild flowers feel as if they have been …