May Bank Holiday

In Cornwall anyway we were denied the opportunity today to indulge in moaning about the bank holiday weather: the sun has shone, although the northerly wind made my eyes water.

I left home in half a mind to visit the garden at Tregullow, which was open as part of the National Gardens Scheme. Tregullow is the home of the High Sheriff of Cornwall, Mr James Williams - seen in the photograph in black velvet and breeches at the head of the afternoon dance on Trevithick Day this year.

In fact I found myself heading in the direction of Helston, and then walking up Tregonning Hill from the hamlet of Balwest.

Standing beside the War Memorial at the summit I had a fantastic view from coast to coast, and I found shelter from

the wind in the Preaching Pit.

Afterwards I spent a small fortune on chicken manure and plants in a garden centre, before finishing the afternoon with one of the best cream teas around - in Sithney.

Hell's Mouth

After yet more rain, a glorious spring day. I walk a section of the coast path a bit further south than my usual route, but not as far south as Godrevy. My main reason for choosing this area is not the unbelieveably turquoise sea or the razorbills, fulmars and kittiwakes nesting on ledges on the cliffs but that I shall pass the cafe at Hell's Mouth and shall be able to indulge in a cream tea. Hell's Mouth lives up to its name by being a popular suicide spot and the scene of a shipwreck at night a few years ago when a member of the crew drowned in the boiling, black sea when he fell out of the strop lifting him into the rescue helicopter. Some of the jagged metal remains of the ship are still visible at times. Do the tourists sitting in the sunshine outside the cafe realise what a dark place this is?

Heather Hosking