Before going into what transpired today, here are a few observations that we’ve been saving up.

Dogs

There are dogs everywhere – almost every second person has one or two dogs in tow (or vice-versa). Admonitions to clean up after the dog are everywhere, as are suitable clearly-labelled bins. We cannot recall encountering any mess in any towns. Today at Crantock Beach we watched a man in the surf trying to get his reluctant dog to ride on the surfboard. It was fun to watch.

Cornish names

Many place names here in Cornwall, perhaps as many as a third, share a common prefix: “Tre” or “Pen”. This can make names hard to remember because they all sound alike.

Classic FM

Our wafting through the beautiful English countryside has been made all the more enjoyable by the wonderful light classical music from this station. Even Joan, who normally is not that keen on classical, is thoroughly enchanted.

No view

Sorry, but this is a peeve. We are constantly frustrated by our inability to stop and enjoy the wonderful views on offer (I love landscape even more than stained glass!). This is often exacerbated by crass commercialism which blocks off access to these views and forces you to pay admission/parking.

Now on to today’s outing, a counter-clockwise trip from Truro to Padstow and then along the coast, passing through Newquay.

Padstow is a working fishing port with an attractive harbour area. It sits on a long inlet with lots of sand flats exposed at low tide. We explored the town and were very pleased to have a great flat white coffee at Rick Stein’s (sorry for the name-dropping).

We continued to Trevose Head, a deserted ex-quarry with excellent coastal views. We really enjoyed having a walk here in the bright sunlight with the wind whistling around our ears. Temp was 11-13℃ all day. We are now finding such conditions quite invigorating and revel in them.

 

There wasn’t much in Newquay, but it did have a number of sandy surf beaches which we were able to enjoy from the heights of the town.

Then on to the highlight of the day – the Bedruthan Steps at Carnewas. This NT property offered perhaps the most beautiful and dramatic coastal scenery we have seen. A major plus was the tidal conditions allowing us to descend the steps to a small beach. We had wanted to walk along the beach to the next set of rocks, but following the admonitions handed out the entrance, we had our eye firmly fixed on the tidal conditions. We did go to the other end of the beach, but in the few minutes we spent there the tide had moved in some metres, nearly causing us some difficulty returning. All went well though. A fabulous place that everyone should see (Andy?). We had a surprisingly large but tasty lunch at the on-site café. As a result of this meal and the usual full English breakfast, plus coffees, we had to forego dinner for the first time in 33 years of marriage.

Our penultimate stop was Crantock, a huge flat sandy beach. This is where we saw the man/surfboard/dog. We had an enjoyable walk over the beach, returning via the dunes. Where the beach met the dunes was what appeared to be stone, but was in reality only firmly compacted sand; it was very easy to score it.

As we had to drive through Truro anyway, we wanted to stop there to have a look at the town and the cathedral in particular. As we approached it, an end-of-shift departing official enquired if we were wanting to see the cathedral. Sadly we were informed that it was now closed.