More Random Cornwall

It is the latter post to which this is a sequel of sorts. We took a trip to Cornwall in the summer of 2018 (yes I know – I still have some older photos still to share). From that trip I’ve already shared More Cornish Sunsets and Bodmin & Wenford Railway. But now most of what’s left is a hodgepodge of shots without much thematic connection. So join me as we take a whistle stop tour of my second-favourite county through the medium of a photographic medley.

Although before we get into this, a disclaimer: this trip was coming up on 7 years ago now, so whilst I can probably offer a decent idea of where these shots were taken, it’s very possible I might not remember. Like this first shot of some stepping stones, because I don’t know where this is.

On a walk back from somewhere – I think where we saw the stones above – we came across a butterfly on a plant. It was a very cooperative butterfly, holding still long enough for me to put on my telephoto lens and get some decent closeups.

If you’re wondering why I was using my telephoto not my macro lens, it was because I was worried about spooking it and having it fly away. With my telephoto I could stay a decent distance away.

As we did back then, we were on holiday with my mother-in-law and her dog. This meant a few good shots of him playing in the water.

Here, we were in Boscastle. In the low tide, people had made rock piles in the harbour. Some of them were pretty impressive.

The harbour has a narrow sea wall of sorts which people like to use as a walkway. I found it quite cool for walking along and then taking a photo back towards town.

The Cornish coastline is always dramatic, and the entrance to the harbour is a great example.

No visit to Cornwall is complete without popping into Healey’s Cornish Cyder Farm – I even make sure to drop in whenever I’m in the county for work. Their cyder is phenomenal, but don’t sleep on their apple juice, which is without equal. At the farm you can often find some creatures wandering around, but the most impressive is probably the peacock.

Although it will pinch your leftovers.

Another common place for us to visit when we’re in Cornwall is Rocky Valley, a lovely trek along one of the many rocky crevices in the Cornish coastline.

As you get closer to the sea it gets a lot rockier, and you get a bunch of lovely little waterfalls in the rock faces.

Along the walk there are come rocky bits of particular importance to Pagans. Lots of them descend on the area to tie items to the trees, for reasons I’m not entirely clear about but I presume to remember loved ones or as a sacrifice to be better at a given skill.

The former is represented by ribbons, or hearts inscribed with messages, or in this case, a bear.

The latter I admit to be a bit of a guess – but I can’t see any other reason someone would tie a whisk and cheese grater or a garden fork to a tree in the middle of a wood.

Next we move on to Padstow, a town, as far as I can tell, owned entirely by the celebrity chef Rick Stein. His name is certainly on quite a few of the eateries, including a nice fish and chip shop. The fish no doubt come in on one of the many fishing boats in the harbour.

We also visited port Isaac, filming location for the TV series Doc Martin, and a very picturesque place in its own right.

In the grounds of the cottage we were staying in there were some pretty flowers, and during a quiet spell I trekked out to take some photos.

On one of the final evenings of the holiday we went out for dinner at a pub in Trebarwith Strand. This is another very picturesque spot.

The interior of the pub was nice too.

That was the end of this holiday – although we went back to Cornwall again the next year, so there is another random grab bag of Cornwall images from 2019 in the pipeline. And 2020, now that I think about it.

As always, below is a gallery containing a more complete set of images.