Wednesday 17 September 2014

Cheerful Cornish Choughs and Distant Dolphins












For atmospheric purposes - have a listen to this whilst reading! 

With the crowds of tourists pretty much returning up country now is the time to really enjoy the quiet beauty of Cornwall. It is an added bonus that, despite summer being officially over, the summer weather seems to have not realised that and we continue to be blessed with warm, dry weather.  With this in mind we didn't falter in taking advantage and headed off west in Miles the camper van at the end of work on Friday.

We ended up in West Penwith; a mere pasty's throw away from Lands End.  We had two amazing TV free, phone free, internet free, news free evenings nestled in a parking spot in a beautiful valley right next to the beach. Each night, governed by the fading light, we were lulled into sleep with the lapping waves (okay the wine we sampled also helped!).  However, the serenity was just one beautiful part of our Stay-in-Cornwall-Cation. Taking off along the beautiful cliffs and valleys we saw many wonders along the way; dodder (an alien looking parasitic plant growing on the surrounding coconut scented gorse), deliciously flavoured blackberries (many of which we sampled), the ancient beauty of moss and lichen, the majesty of towering cliffs, the momentary sculptured wonder of waves, the mystery of distant lighthouses and so much more that is beyond description if you are fully open to every sense that nature offers.

However, when it comes to wonder nothing competes in my mind with the sight of a rare Cornish bird and the wonder of dolphins. Wonderfully and magically that is exactly what happened within a 10 minute time span of walking along the Cornish coast.  Three Cornish Choughs flew past, in their wonderfully squawky clumsiness, in one direction swiftly followed by a graceful school of dolphins in the other (sorry but no photographic evidence as too far away). The choughs even graced us with their presence the next morning with an alarm call in the very cove we slept in.  How very very wonderful. 






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