Thursday 19th September 2024
We have nothing particularly planned for today, we are staying local as it is such a nice sunny morning.
Just a tiny bay we thought!
Around mid morning we decided to head down to Chapel Porth, our local beach knowing the tide will be out and the dogs can have a wale of a time. Easier said than done, there was a sign at the top of the hill stating the car park was full, so naturally we ignored this and drove down; no kidding, the car park was heaving, no doubt as the tide was out. The decision was taken, Christine would get out and take the dogs and leave me to sort things out!!
I hung around the car park and eventually got my space, flashed my National Trust membership card and I was off to catch-up Christine on the beach, shouldn’t be too difficult as it is only a small cove. After clambering over the small rocks and stones I was on the sandy beach and as I walked towards the sea I was “gobsmacked”; tucked around the corner the beach opened up and it was enormous, probably a couple of miles long and a real hidden gem when the tide was in, so big I couldn’t see Christine or the dogs. I headed on round the corner and eventually “clocked” two pooches charging around that had to be Tom-Tom and Rosie, soon after, and trailing, was Christine on her way back having been nearly to the end. We now understood why the car park was so busy, a wonderful beach for sun worshipers, surfers and dogs not to mention walkers, who would have guessed this beach was here when we came down the other night at high tide.
Heading up the hill from the beach is a cottage with a couple of containers in the garden, all looks a bit “Steptoe & Son” but Wednesday to Saturday they sell fresh fish so we decided to have a look. Inside the shop was quite different, a very modern fishmonger so was tempted and bought his last pot of fresh crab.
Back at base we sat down to an extremely fresh crab salad lunch, you could certainly taste the sea it was so fresh; just goes to show looks can be deceiving!! Our snack lunch turned out to be a full meal!!!
About a mile away from this camp site is “Wheal Coates”, an old derelict tin/copper mine so headed over to take a look. Again parking was National Trust, we must have re-cooped our annual fee to the N. T., in parking charges alone, we just flash our membership card and “hey presto” we gat a “fee paid” ticket for the car!!
Wheal Coates is only the dramatic ruins hanging on the edge of the cliffs, carpeted with heather and gorse and crisscrossed with narrow footpaths, but again the dogs were limited to charging up and down the paths, the gorse obviously hurts their feet!!! We enjoyed the walk looking out to a bright blue sea with the sun beating down on us and no wind, idyllic.
Eventually we arrived back at site, dogs “panting for England” and we just collapsed into chairs, poured a couple of drinks and sat in the late afternoon sun, very contented. Though the earlier part of this break was not blessed with sunshine, these last few days have made up for it. Eventually our thoughts turned to dinner but as we had had such a big lunch, “grazing” was the decision.
After the sun went down with some spectacular sights in the sky, we went inside for a spot of tv and bed. Tomorrow is our last full day 🥵🥵, just hope the weather holds again