After Westward Ho! and Babbacombe Mouth, cliff top woods extended for many miles, beyond Peppercombe, below Buck's Cross...
... as far as Clovelly, where a boat race was going on, and the jetty was packed with folk...
More woodland, then the scenery became more open, wilder, starker, more elemental. You can see that the sun was out again - though the wind was fierce - and the path descended right down to sea level, where I took this photo. The island on the horizon is Lundy...
Rounding Hartland Point...
Wouldn't you just love to live in a static caravan in the middle of a field miles from anywhere? Well, I know I would...
Here I'm approaching Hartland Quay, where I spent the night in the excellent, quaintly eccentric Hartland Quay Hotel. It was curry night, and the curry was home-made and quite superb. The wind was very strong now. In some places I could hardly stand upright. But the brash sunlight defined everything with a brittle, almost painful clarity...
8 comments:
I am swept away.
wind ... curry ...
which order?
buen camino!
Andy
Like your double entendre, Bonnie...
... and Andy, to be exact, it was wind, curry, wind, a lot more wind, and some more, then another curry (at the North Inn in Pendeen - which I can assure you is the best curry in Cornwall...)
I won't enter the wind/curry, curry/wind debate, but I will agree with Bonnie that "swept away" is a good description of the impact of your photos of this day's walk. I'm amazed at how much variety there is on this walk; everything seems to keep changing, including the color of the water at various locations. Keep up the reports. I'm enjoying the ride.
Another one here that would love to live in a static caravan miles from anywhere... I'm enjoying following this trip and the photos today are wonderful.
Addit: I wasn't sure whether my rambling and wordy last comment made any sense and could have confused you ... but aha, when I wrote the comment I couldn't find or remember where I had first read Solnit's quotes on being 'lost'- so your recent posts on Turnstone reminded me! Yes, I'm a little lost :)
I spent a week on the island of Jersey in 2006- as some of my ancestors came from there and I wanted to explore. One of the things I loved the most was how I could take so many walks right beside the coast- up and down. Here at home, we have a lot of coastline, but the land immediately inland from it is only occasionally able to walked along (and then of course, it is much less inhabited as well, so a village with a hotel might well not appear ready for a night's meal/sleep.) How you have made me wish....
Thanks goodness for that, George. It was making me far too hungry.
I suppose 'sweeping away' could also connote the idea of clearing away the cobwebs in one's mind, renewing the strength in one's body, making a fresh start - with all the clutter 'swept away'. All part of the psychodrama of a long walk!
Yes, there was constant variety, subtly changing landscapes, ever changing moods of weather. The altering colours of the sea at different times and places were simply astonishing.
Glad you're enjoying the roller-coaster ride!
Gleaner - Just click on 'Rebecca Solnit' under LABELS on my sidebar. That should sort it!
And Kiwi - Thanks for your comment. You can actually trace a coastal path round the whole of the British Isles. There are people who have done this, and written about it... The distance is quite phenomenal.
SW
Something wonderfully crispy about these pictures.
...Tramp
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