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.

Bedruthan Steps

The coastline around Mawgan Porth, where our holiday cottage in Mawgan Porth was sited, is noted for its picturesque beauty, and so we decided to devote the next two days of our Cornish holiday devoted to exploring its clifftops and beaches. First up was the walk out to the Bedruthan Steps.

The large rocks outcrops that erupt from the beach here are named after the giant Bedruthan, who was said to have used the outcrops as stepping stones to cross the beach during high time.

The weather was a bit on the moody side but the poor lighting, with only the odd glint of sunshine, loaned a rather pleasant evocative atmosphere to the beach.

Roche Rock

I closed the first full day of my Cornish holiday with a visit to the fantastically dramatic ruins of St. Michael's Chapel. Set high on Roche Rock, there is a definite air of brooding isolation here and it came as surprise when I learned that the chapel was believed to have been home to a leper many, many moons ago.

The brooding Roch Rock and St. Michael's Chapel

Equally unsurprising, Roche Rock is also said to be haunted by the ghost of a tin miner, who has been heard tapping at the rocks with the ruins of the chapel.

Roche Rock was a foreboding site and was well worth the drive out to see it. Unfortunately, it was early evening by the time I reached the place and so I did not have the time to climb to the rock's summit. The atmosphere of the site was imposing, however, even when stood below the landmark. I have added a short video I took whilst there, to hopefully more fully convey the feel of the place. 

When in Rome... or Cornwall

Bought two of these today - one for myself and one for my daughter :)

Merman Research

I love this image of a merman. It is exactly how I envisioned the creature washed up at the start of my new novel Lore. The drawing is by Arthur Rackam and you can find more of his great artwork here.