Oooh look at the view

I took this photo a couple of weeks ago while enjoying the view from Polpeor Cafe at Lizard Point. My local. A beautiful blue sky with just a faint waft of cloud high in the sky, looking along the south west coast path towards Kynance.

I revisit Kynance Cove again and again. I knew from the first time I laid eyes on the cove, years ago, out of season, that I would love the place more each time and so it is (By the way I'm reading Frenchman's Creek and feel a little Daphne Du Maurier has seeped into me.).

This was a new find on a previous visit to Kynance. At low tide you can keep walking along the beach and round the corner until you reach another little cove and right at the very end I discovered this rock pool. It's huge; probably 15 feet across at its widest point. No sign of a pirate lurking.

A friend messaged me the other day and asked what the weather was like. Like this I replied as I enjoyed the view from Amelie's at Porthleven at low-tide.

Yesterday I zoomed into Marazion as I wanted to buy some cards from a specific shop. However there was nowhere available to park for free (actually there was but a blooming mini-bus was in the way and I couldn't see the spaces) so I ended up having to £4 to park. The upside is that the parking ticket is redeemable at The Godolphin Arms so I had a cup of tea and a wonderful view once I'd bought my precious cards.

Love from The Lizard Girl

Holywell Bay and Crantock Beach

On Friday, 17th July I ventured up and across country towards Newquay to explore Holywell Bay and Crantock Beach. It was a very windy day. I don't know if that's a north coast thing or just the weather that day but everywhere you looked there were windbreakers.

Holywell Bay

I liked it well enough and had my picnic lunch here but in the end the wind got the better of me and I drove a couple of miles up the road to Crantock Beach. What an amazing beach. A massive open space with sand and sea equipment for hire and then, as your eyes roam, the vista changes and there's a river before you and then you take in the amazing beachside properties and then up towards the ice-cream kiosk and windbreak city once again.

After reading my kindle for a while I walked up the beach inland and crossed the river using the footbridge (at high tide there's a ferry boat) and climbed many steps to the top for a wonderful view of the beach from the cafe. Unfortunately I'd left my phone behind so no pictures. One of the beachside properties in particular was amazing. It spanned the entire cliffside from top to bottom with wooden steps zigzagging up it and at intervals there were sitting out areas or glassed rooms or tended beds and then at the top what looked to be a spectacular house.

As the wind got up I took shelter and finished the afternoon safe and snug in the dunes.

Love from the Lizard Girl

Randoms

Still recovering from the excitement of seeing Aidan a whole week later! I have been out and about revisiting faves as well as new discoveries but decided to take the opportunity to post some random photographs.

To kick off with, did I ever tell you how I lent the lighthouse cottage to complete strangers for a few days while the daddy of the family took a brief break from his monumental fund-raiser for an MS charity; Shift.ms which involved cycling to every lighthouse in England and Wales (including the islands). I didn't? Well I did. And this is the lovely basket of goodies that awaited me on my return to the cottage back at the beginning of June. He's on the home stretch now; free-wheeling all the way down the east coast of England back to Kent.

I'm still adding new varieties to my list of wild flowers and this book has been invaluable. I have really enjoyed taking little cuttings home and then identifying them. My favourite wild flowers to date are betony and common restharrow. Mum bought me a lovely little snipping tool when we were at Trebah Gardens which lives in my bag. Binoculars and snippers - who is this girl?

As you know life is a bowl of cherries and none more delicious than a pound of these English beauties bought from the roadside.

This sign continues to perplex me. The first time I saw it I thought some funny fellow had removed the 'I' from the sign. And then I saw it again, miles away. So I had a little read and then I had a little look on Cornwall Council's website. Dear reader, Cornwall Council are trying to let their loos. Apparently they could be converted into a variety of purposes including holiday homes, recreational activities and cafes. Well that's all fine and dandy but other factors aside it's a condition of the lease that a public toilet service has to be maintained. They're not the largest of buildings to start with so how does that work???

Me...

... and my lighthouse just visible over the roof...

... and my 50th birthday piggies enjoying some respite from the sun in my newly purchased beach shelter.

 As I love my distressed table so much I decided to paint my little green shelves white as well. Of course half-way through I ran out of paint so had to do a 50 miles trip to B&Q in Penzance to buy another tin. Very pleased with the result.

And to finish this random post, a random accidental photo of my foot.

Love from The Lizard Girl

Aidan Turner comes to Kynance Cove

It has always been a bit of a standing joke amongst my friends that I'm looking for my very own Poldark here in Cornwall. I knew a new series of Poldark was due to be shot in the Autumn but word went round last week that Aidan Turner would be filming at Kynance Cove on Wednesday and Thursday. Cue great excitement amongst my Lizard girl-friends. On Monday I saw on someone's Facebook page that they'd been filming at Mullion Cove. Not Poldark at all but an Agatha Christie mini-series; And Then There Were None.

On Tuesday I was starting to suffer from cabin fever as the fog horn had been going off since Sunday so rather than heading for a beach, the weather was too bad for that, I decided to explore Penryn and try out Miss Peapod's Kitchen cafe at Jubilee Wharf. As I hadn't been out for a couple of days I pulled into the Kynance Cove turning, as you can pick up a mobile signal there, just in case I had any messages. Once I'd checked I went to turn around but there was a minibus coming along the track towards me. As I followed it back to the main road I noticed it was empty which I thought was a bit odd. I was about to pull out when I caught sight of a little neon pink sign I'd seen earlier with the initials ATTWN on it - AND THEN THERE WERE NONE. Ker-ching; maybe they were filming today?!

So, I turned round once again and headed to the Kynance Cove car-park. As I approached I saw lots of heavy duty vehicles and there was an air of excitement about the place. This was the first thing I saw:

Then this:

I grilled the lad at the National Trust car-park kiosk but he was having none of it. They'd been there since 5am long before he arrived and he knew nothing he said, with a big grin on his face.

I had to walk the really long way down to the Cove as both the low-tide path and the high-tide path had security men blocking the way so everyone had to use the track. Oooh, excitement mounting. Got to the cafe and ordered a pot of tea and a flapjack and cross-examined the guys behind the till. Was Aidan here? Yes, he'd been in, shaken Victoria's hand, now filming on the beach right below the cafe. And he'd used their loo. Cheers for that guys.

The weather was misty and drizzly but who cares? The place was practically deserted which I was rather surprised at. Surely word must have got out but apparently not. I got chatting to a couple of girls at the end of the veranda as I hugged my mug of tea and... bloody hell, that bloke in the grey shirt and burgundy trews; that's the lovely Aidan himself.

This is my picture:

And this is one that someone, somewhere with an amazing telephoto lens, took and posted on a fan page (he's acting not having a go at someone, it's all about to get nasty with a gun involved):

Anyways, my new buddies and I are chatting and the man himself comes strolling up the steps and into the cafe. Oh my god. What to do? What to do? So being the brave person I am, I take a photo of his back:

Then blow me down he comes out and just kinda stands there so I am even braver and ask can I take his photograph? He very politely says no as the BBC won't allow pics in costume. Then I noticed a couple of other people coming forward to ask for an autograph. Whizzed into the cafe, grabbed an order slip and a pen and shot back out:

And then he just stood there and chatted. There was me and the two girls I'd been talking to, a lovely couple who were staying in the cottage and one lady who'd come down from Camborne. A real, proper fan who had been given mis-information and told he was at Kennack Sands before tracking him down to Kynance. So we stood there and chatted and he was just the nicest, most polite fellow and so, so gorgeous looking and an Irish accent to die for. Naturally I jibbered like a good 'un and managed to spout absolute bollocks but he was so normal that we were all at ease very soon. 

We talked about how cold the water is in Cornwall (and you think you'll mention *that* scene in Poldark but you just can't when it comes to it) and how it turned out, in Aidan's words "a nice little series". One of the girls was talking about how she was on book 8 of the Poldark saga and it transpired that Aidan is reading them too but he can't get too far ahead in case it influences how he acts his character. Interesting. 

Man, I could have just stood and adored all day but all too soon his break was up and away he went while we giggled like schoolgirls not quite being able to believe our good fortune as we went our separate ways in a bit of a daze.

POST SCRIPT:
Popped back down again today, Thursday, just as they were finishing up. Aidan had left the set by now but I bumped into one of the ladies from Tuesday (the real, proper fan). She had been there all three days and said we struck gold with our lovely chat. That didn't happen again, and I got the feeling she was there most of the time! Although the odd person did get their photo taken when he had a coat over the top of his costume. On the way out I saw Sam Neill striding across the car-park and apparently Charles Dance had been very lovely the evening before. We decided Aidan's parents had done an excellent job of bringing him up!

Roll on September and the return of Captain Ross Poldark to these parts.

Love from The Lizard Girl

Back to Porthcurno via Sennen Cove

Sennen Cove, 9:30am on a sunny Saturday morning

I mentioned a few weeks ago on my blog that I'd like to try Ben Tunnicliffe at Sennen Cove for breakfast. It looked like my kind of place; fab location, a clean, beachy vibe and, I must admit, I was very taken with the signage. Shallow I know but I'm a sucker for a sharp font, especially on a just right pantone background. Enough already. It was a disappointment.

(photo ripped from website)

The location was indeed amazing. Sitting in the sunshine on the deck watching the surf school from afar reading the Saturday papers.

However, service people, service, service, service. When will Cornish restaurants learn that we're not all visitors never to be seen again? I remember it from back when I used to visit with Carlton and I've been noticing it again this summer. It's not the beach cafes; they're usually full of happy faces, warm greetings and lots of "no worries". It's the restaurants. They seem to think that service ends with plonking your meal in front of you. It doesn't. I don't want my drink after my food has been served. I don't want to find something to prop the table up with because my tea has slopped into the saucer and I don't want to have to leave my spot in the sun because someone forgot to give me a teaspoon. And it would be really nice is someone came over at some point to see if I'd enjoyed my meal. I would still want these things even if I was a visitor and you're never going to see me again. Service matters. Rant over.

I left Sennen Cove and as the temperature rose and finally made it into the twenties I headed for Porthcurno. I needed to earn my bask on the beach so donned my trainers and headed up the south west coast park. As I was about to start videoing from a glorious vantage point I got chatting to a girl who lives in Newlyn. In fact she was running back to Newlyn mad fool. She was saying even though she lives here she can never get over how beautiful Porthcurno is. It feels like you've walked through a portal to the Med. See for yourself in this wee clip:

Up on the cliff path looking up country

And down towards Porthcurno (the sandy bay)

Complete with sailing boat bobbing in the distance

Amazing clear waters

I followed the path that took me back down to the beach. Found a spot against a rock and read my kindle, every now and again taking a trip to the waters edge and have a little paddle/beach-comb.

All too soon it was time to head home after stopping to buy a pound of cherries and a quick detour into Porthleven to pick-up some more suntan lotion and a strawberry ice-cream to eat on the quay-side.

Just as well I made the most of the weather. This is what I woke up to on Sunday.

Love from The Lizard Girl

An afternoon at Rinsey

After a few days of very average weather and lots of things keeping me local the weather forecast for Thursday, 9th was good so I decided a new destination was needed. I'd seen a postcard of Rinsey with one of my much loved mines on the cliff top so packed up a picnic and headed off south. About a thirty-five minute drive from the Lighthouse.

First of all I took some pictures of Wheal Prosper which, sadly, wasn't prosperous and was only open for six years in the 1860s. Then it was down to the beach, which was an achievement in itself with many steep steps to negotiate and then towards the bottom they more or less disappear altogether and you slither down the last bit. The photo with the purple arrow shows where you emerge from.

I took loads of photographs that afternoon and I've found it hard to whittle them down to just a few so I'm posting more than usual. The sky changed quite a bit during the course of the afternoon; these are taken from about 1pm through to late afternoon. From high tide to nearly low.

Wheal Prosper

Hmm, this arty one...

... or this arty one?

If you click on this photo you can see the purple arrow but, basically, you emerge out of the oval hole, bang in the middle of this photo.

Invasion of the killer spiders (oh, ok, invasion of the dried up seaweed)

Toes, unpainted, but with the vague beginnings of a tan, so not so bad

Wheal Prosper high above the beach

Self-ex: rock pool

Leaving the cove at low tide

A last look at Wheal Prosper

And a lovely afternoon came to an end.

Love from The Lizard Girl

Kynance my Kynance, eventually

Unfortunately Thursday didn't dawn any brighter than Wednesday. I am realising more and more that you have to have your plan A and your plan B and be prepared to change course as you go sometimes. After a leisurely breakfast of scrambled eggs on toast we could delay no more and rather than going to Kynance in the gloom we decided to take a walk along to Housel Bay then up into the village for ice-creams.

By the time we'd walked into Lizard it had started raining so we stopped at Coast for hot chocolate. As we set off down the path to the Lighthouse it was still drizzling and we were engrossed in conversation as we passed an older couple. As they went by we heard the man say "did that say Oxted?" We turned around and discovered that the man had attended Oxted School in the late sixties, now lived in Essex, small world etc. As we chatted the sun came out and you could feel the heat starting to burn through. By the time we got back to the cottage the temperature must have gone up a good ten degrees so it was swimsuits on, beach bag packed and off to Kynance Cove. 

The tide was out when we arrived so I gave the girls a quick tour of the coves and the caves (and a naughty man with his winky out although he covered up before we focussed. I probably wouldn't have noticed had he not grabbed his towel in a hurry!)

We wanted to max out on our time at Kynance before the girls' flight home early evening so we set-up camp where I knew we'd be safe from the rising waters and basked. The girls got lunch from the cafe although I just had an ice-cream, as did Annie. Libby never did get hers even though she had been so excited about me moving to Cornwall mainly so she could have Cornish ice-cream like we did when we holidayed at Cawsand years ago with mum and dad. The girls braved the freezing waters once again and stayed in right until it was time to leave.

They ended up leaving the beach wrapped in their towels for the short drive back to the cottage and a hot shower before the drive back to Newquay Airport. This photo was taken at the top of the steps leading down the beach and Kynance Cove Cafe where I briefly worked all those months ago. When the tide is completely in you have to go up and over the cliff path.

Getting towards high tide as we left

And that was it. Libby and Annies's Cornish adventure was over. We negotiated the Truro rush-hour with less time than I would have liked to spare, only to discover the plane was delayed. But they were still home by just after half past eight.

Love from the Lizard Girl