Family matters

Today was another unexpectedly sunny day. At this rate I’ll start to assume that it will be sunny and warm whatever the forecast says! It was also another fairly easy day – relatively flat and not too long a walk. I could get used to that too. As it was I used some of the left-over energy to get a closer look at the famous line of stacks at Bedruthan Steps. As the tide was in I was only able to do 114 of the 142 steps available, but it was still worth the effort.

It was a slightly sobering morning, passing a couple of benches in memory of people who died too young. I had a definite sense of ‘there but for the grace of God’ as I read the inscriptions. And I felt a renewed commitment to walking the Coast Path and all the other things I want to do in life while I still have the chance; who knows what’s round the corner?

I stopped for lunch at Berryl’s point, to enjoy its views over the turquoise waters of Beacon Cove, and Newquay hazy in the distance. It was a bonus to discover that it also boasted a good 3G signal! It was an idyllic spot to write my blog and upload some photos, and with the weather so good I spent well over an hour lounging in my little spot.

But the highlight of my day was Newquay. My father was evacuated there in the war and it was fascinating to see today the places he recalled from that part of his childhood, including the cliff-top house where he lived for two years (one of those on the left in the photo), and the niches alongside the footpath leading up from the harbour where he watched the bombing raids on St Mawgan airbase with his mother, wrapped up in bedclothes against the cold. I’m still smiling at the thought of my Dad as a naughty schoolboy wrecking his shoes by taking a shortcut along the beach as the tide came in.

One of the people I met on the path today told me his father was once a junior airman stationed at St Mawgan airbase – it really is a small world. He (the son, that is) is also aiming to complete the whole Coast Path. After going so long without meeting anyone else embarked on the same task now I’ve met two in as many days. I guess it’s not only campsites that resemble busses in coming along in groups!