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Showing posts with label Cornwall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cornwall. Show all posts

Friday 26 October 2018

Another Cornish Buy

We only had one day during our week-long stay in Cornwall when the weather was really bad, and we decided to take a wander around Newquay on that afternoon. We could see the lights of the town twinkling across the bay from our holiday cottage in Mawgan Porth, so it was great to actually take a look around the place in the daylight. 

Newquay turned out to be a typical seaside touristy town and the poor weather stopped us exploring the place in too much detail. The highlight of our visit there though was a little fishmonger shop that had a display case of shells that were for sale. Within the glass display cabinet was this beauty, a decent sized Nautilus shell. 

Nautilus Shell, purchased from a Newquay fishmonger
I spent a little while taking some photographs of it when I got back to our holiday cottage and the pic above and immediately below were the best of my endeavours.
Nautilus Shell

I was nervous of it smashing during the long drive home and was relieved to see it still in one piece when I unwrapped it upon my return. Here it is now, safe and sound on my bathroom windowsill:

My bathroom windowsill set up

Old Cornish Piskie Mead Bottle

Oh, I couldn't leave Cornwall without this little lad. I have already grown very fond of him :)

Thursday 25 October 2018

A Farewell to Cornwall

It was with a somewhat heavy heart that I bade farewell to Cornwall. It truly is a magical place and I wish I could have spent a lot longer exploring its coastline, its ancient sites as well as its folklore. I ended my holiday with a brief lunch at what is, without a doubt, Cornwall's most famous pub - the Jamaica Inn, made famous in Daphne du Maurier's classic novel that was named after the inn. 

The Jamaica Inn Pub Sign

Lunch with Du Maurier' characters in the Jamaican Inn

The Cheesewring, Bodmin Moor

...Leaving The Hurler Stones, a moderate walk leads across Bodmin Moor to the Cheesewring, seen below in the first pic on the horizon behind the entrance to Daniel Gumb's Cave. It is difficult to believe, but this is actually a tiny constructed house, built by Daniel Gumb to accomodate himself, his wife and his half a dozen children! His decision to live out on the wilds of Bodmin Moor and with such limited public utilities and conveniences was apparently made to avoid paying taxes.

Daniel Gumb's Cave and the Cheesewring

The Cheesewring itself is a truly spectacular sight to behold, the result, legend holds, of a rock-throwing competition between Uther, a giant, and Saint Tue. Giants, the original occupiers of Bodmin Moor, were, it wa said, unhappy with humans moving onto their land and the competition was set up to repel Mankind from the moorland. If the giant won, the giants would be left in peace, but if St. Tue became the victor then the giants would have to convert to Christianity and allow people to settle on the moor.  The objective of the competition was to throw stones, with each stone landing upon the other to form stacks. With the aid of an angel, Saint Tue finally won the battle with Uther's thirteenth stone rolling back down the hill. The giant, being a creature of his word, conceded the match and he and the rest of the giants were baptised as Christians. Humans have lived and utilised Bodmin Moor ever since.

The 20 foot tall Cheesewring
The whole Tor around the Cheesewring is impressive and my walk around the summit and these amazing stones was definitely an experience that was up there with the very best of my Cornish adventures.

The stones neighbouring the Cheesewring are also impressive








Like all the places I visited in Cornwall on this holiday, I cannot recommend visiting this remarkable site highly enough.

Sunday 21 October 2018

The Hurler Stones, Bodmin Moor

Heading home from my stay in Corning, I stopped off on Bodmin Moor to visit a couple of intriguing sites. The first of which was this triple ring formation of standing stones, known as The Hurler Stones.

The Hurler Stones, with ruins of old tin mine in the background

The site was gently animated by a group of small horses grazing on the grass there, as well as a few tourists, who I managed to keep from my photographs with careful image cropping and crouching down low to the ground and waiting for them to disappear behind the ancient megaliths before I took the pictures on my trusty Samsung Galaxy S7.

Horse Grazing at The Hurler Stones, Bodmin Moor





The Hurler Stones earned their names from the legend that they were once men who caught playing Cornish Hurling on a Sunday. For their 'crime', each was turned magically to stone!

To the edge of the stone circles, stand two further megaliths, known as The Piper Stones (pictured below). These, according to folklore, were once pipers who were caught playing their musical instruments on the moor on a Sunday and befell the same fate as the hurlers!

The Pipers, with Sheep

My next stop on Bodwin Moor appears on the horizon behind the Hurler Stones - the fantastic Cheesewring. It is a moderate and easy walk, with enough of an incline to gently raise your heartrate as you reach the summit. But it is the scenery of the Cheesering that truly takes your breath away...

Tintagel Castle

Tintagel Castle is steeped in folklore. It is said to be the birthplace of the legendary King Arthur, as well as the site where he was infamously conceived. From Tintagel village, a well-kept path leads down steeply to the coast and the steps up to the castle. Often though, the least trod paths are the most picturesque and I found this far more scenic route located very close to the main tourist route:

The more scenic route to the coast of and castle of Tintagel

Unfortunately, when I visited the site, both the beach and castle were closed due to works on a new bridge that connects the island castle to the mainland. I was, however, able to get a photograph of the castle from the coastal path:


Unable to explore the castle, the beach or the legendary Merlin's cave, which is located beneath the castle, I sat back on the coastal clifftop and used the opportunity to relax and just soak up the atmosphere of this truly unique part of the Cornish coastline. :)

Feet up, it's time to soak up and enjoy the Cornish sunshine

Rocky Valley, Cornwall

Energised after my walk through St. Nectan's Glen, I took advantage of the hour or so of light that still remained to the day by continuing my walk down along the Trivillet River through an area of woodland known as Rocky Valley.

Like St. Nectan's Glen, Rocky Valley is charged with a feeling of magic and the woodland is abrim with votive offerings, dressed wishing trees and evidence of spellcraft.










Rocky Valley is best known for its two labyrinth carvings and it is around this site that most of the evidence of spiritual activity within the woods is found. The carvings themselves, though relatively small, are easily found and are quite a sight to behold. Their prehistoric heritage, however, is arguable, with scholars divided about dating the carvings to the Bronze Age.  The fact that they appear on quarried walls has led other experts to date them as no more than 300 years old.




Heading back to the car, I bumped into an American tourist who was as equally taken to the locale as myself. "Wow!" She said, as she reached the labyrinths. "This whole place is like something out of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings." I could not have agreed more.

St. Nectan's Glen, Cornwall

St. Nectan's Glen has been on my radar and on my Bucket List for nearly twenty years now and I was really looking forward to finally seeing this enchanted site during my recent stay in Cornwall.

From the small car park, located on the main road that connects Boscastle with Tintagel, there is a decent one-mile woodland walk that follows the Trivillet River up to the awe-inspiring St. Nectan's Kieve, the 60 foot waterfall that has been lauded by many pilgrim's as one of Britain's finest spiritual sites.

The first thing of a magical nature that visitor's notice on the walk up to St Nectan's Glen are the fallen trees that are encrusted with embedded coins. Numerous flat stones are left around the tree to encourage the practice. These are coin wishing trees and have a long tradition in British folklore.

Coin Wishing Tree, St. Nectan's Glen

Embedded Coins in a St. Nectan's Glen Wishing Tree
The practice is an ancient one and involved hammering a coin into a tree as an offering to seek the help of the spirit that is believed to inhabit the tree. This may be just to gain general favour with the tree spirit or, more traditionally, to ask the spirit to remove whatever illness that is troubling them. On a darker note, it is also said that anyone removing a coin from a Wishing Tree, also gets to take away the specific malady the coin was paid to the tree to remedy.

Another Coin WIshing Tree at St. Nectan's Glen




As well as Coin Wishing Trees, there are innumerable Dressed Wishing Trees around St. Nectan's Glens. Festooned with ribbons and other decorations, these gifts to the tree spirits are a mix of votive offerings, symbolic prayers and wishes those who decorate the tree hope the resident spirits will grant them.

Dressed Wishing Tree, St. Nectan's Glen

Votive offerings, wishes and symbolic prayers
decorate many trees in St. Nectan's Glen






There is a small entrance fee to visit St. Nectan's Kieve and after paying this some well-managed steps lead steeply and in a winding fashion down to the waterfall itself.

Looking down at St. Nectan's Waterfall
Stood before the magnificent waterfall, the site did not disappoint. Wellington boots are offered to the visitor before the descent to the Kieve, and I do wish that I had taken the keeper's of the waterfall up on their kind offer so that I could have explored the watery site in more detail. Still, I found a relatively dry patch of rock to stand on and soaked up the atmosphere for a good and long while before falling the steps back up to the entrance/exit to the waterfall.

Votive offerings at St. Nectan's Glen Waterfall

St. Nectan's Glen Waterfall





The hole in the rock through which St, Nectan's waterfall flows


After viewing the famous waterfall, there were still much to see on the climb back up to the exit, including this beautiful sculpture...


...as well as further magical votive offerings.



All in all, St. Nectan's Glen is a very highly recommended site to visit. If you are thinking of travelling there yourself, you can find more information from the glen's official website here.