Signs of spring

It is a three peg day:the northerly wind is strong enough to make the washing whip backwards and forwards on the line, but the sun is out, and at the start of the walk there is a cellophane haze of heat over the field next to my parking place. The soil is so recently flattened and rolled that there is not even a hint as yet of green shoots; just earth and stone.

The wind-blasted shrubs amongst the gorse are struggling into life: I see catkins and, on the ground, violets and primroses.

The man sitting in the sunshine on the low wooden bench at the cliff edge just beyond the kissing gate is George Wilson. He is wearing a navy and beige Pringle jumper, and has a head of thick white hair -the wind plays with it - a white moustache and a Scottish lilt to his voice although he left Scotland in 1953. He has walked down to the coast path from his home on what was once part of the parkland of the Bassett family mansion house.

I tell George I am writing an "internet diary" thinking he may not be interested in computers and blogging. I feel a little foolish when I discover that George is an engineer who has used computers most of his working life, and owns an Apple Mac. These days he is the secretary of the Trevithick Society. The Society, named after the celebrated Cornish engineer and Camborne man Richard Trevithick (1771-1833), exists to preserve and study Cornwall's industrial past.When we finish talking I leave George sitting on the bench surveying the silvered surface of the sea.


Heather Hosking

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

More about Godrevy Head

As I have mentioned before, Godrevy Head is at one end of the Site of Special Scientific Interest of which my walking route forms part. The information about the site gives details of the impressive array of flora and fauna that can be found there. What it does not mention are the seals which can often be seen in large numbers at Godrevy.

Yesterday, 4th April, I counted 103. This is the most I have ever seen at one time and there can't be many places where seals can be seen so easily: the cove where this group were "sunbathing" as one child called out in delight, is at the base of cliffs just yards from the National Trust car park.

An enthusiast

On another blustery March morning I encounter Ian Tellam walking in the direction of Portreath. He has a woollen hat pulled well down almost to his ginger eyebrows and rain-splattered glasses. He is carrying a wooden walking staff of the type I have not seen since I was in the Picos in northern Spain; most walkers here have been converted to carrying aluminium walking poles. We grin at each other when still a few yards apart and get into conversation as we draw level. Ian is another local person and one who walks this part of the coast a number of times each week for enjoyment. I learn from him that the starting point of my walk - Bassetts Cove - has not always been known by that name. What is now the village of Portreath was the original Bassetts Cove. The Bassett family grew wealthy from the mining industry, but, the story goes, a profligate member gambled away much of the money. What was once their mansion house in hundreds of acres of parkland and woodland, became at first a hospital, and was then converted into a number of dwellings.

Godrevy Head

My usual route does not take me as far as Godrevy Head, but it is another place where I like to walk. In Natural England's information about the SSSI that incorporates that promontory, there is mention of the Shetland ponies that graze there as a means of managing the gorse and shrub. I can tell you that they do an amazing job: where once there was a dense covering of gorse and brambles is now an expanse of moorland turf. The vegetation is so closely clipped that every lump, bump and contour of the ground is revealed: just as on a shaven head. The ponies are picturesque too, although I think their appearance can be deceptive and it is best to keep your distance.

Site of special scientific interest

Following my recent encounter with the students from Duchy College, I have been reading about the SSSI that includes the area of my walk. It runs from Godrevy Head in the south to St Agnes in the north. I did not know that 25 species of butterfly, 10 species of dragonfly and damselfly and the largest breeding colony of kittiwakes can be found on this stretch of the coast. But I felt the peculiar pleasure (a feeling of being on the inside and with superior knowledge) that comes with finding references to places and people you know, when the peregrine, rock pippit and stonechat were mentioned. These three are my frequent companions on this walk.

Coming out of the dark

It's March and I find the enthusiasm to venture out again. There are signs that the winter - the coldest for 30 years - is coming to an end. The field next to the track down to the cliffs is newly ploughed. Acid yellow gorse stands out against the grey of the sky, the rich dark brown of the soil and the washed out colours of dead grasses.
A group of people and a dog are clustered around a man giving a talk. One of them, Nick Taylor, explains that the listeners are from Duchy College on the outskirts of Camborne and are listening to a representative of the National Trust explain the Trust's policy for management of this area which is a site of special scientific interest. I want to ask if I can stay to listen and learn more, but don't have the nerve. So I walk on.