Rinsey to Porthleven

A well-walked walk.... memorably met a man with his son who claimed to have just seen a Cornish chough and an admirably flushed unfit woman, walking from Porthleven to Praa Sands to reward herself with an icecream, then back again.
The drink at the end of these walks - this time at the Ship Inn, Porthleven, is always a reward.
And at home, the harvest has started. The combine is a seriously industrial sight after four hours of cliffs and sea. They're still working hard even though it's starting to get dark.

Looking back towards Praa Sands

Perfect picnic spot

I would not trust my lfe to this rope

Porthleven harbour

Sennen to Botallack

Another dazzling day for a coastal walk last Saturday. This path from Sennen to Botallack runs almost at sea level for much of the way - before alpine climbs in and out of long deserted mining valleys. We spotted five Cornish choughs on the cliffs near Botallack, a first for me.

Watercolour kit

These are Turner's watercolours, on display in Margate ( a skilful and probably illegal photo). What a starting point....In Oropesa, Spain, last month I bought my own watercolour kit, partly inspired by the low euro. It's the most basic of paintboxes but the cover makes a brilliant palette.
The objective of course is to sit down like Turner and dash off impressions. Not as easy as all that, but no harm in having a go.

Botallack to Bosigran

Does anyone have the energy to walk the Cornish coastal footpath day after day? It's exhausting, and anyway far too stunning to hurry.

Last Thursday's glorious sunshine was the perfect weather. Yes, the colours really were this bright. Even the hydrangeas in the Ladies back at the Queen's Arms, Botallack, at the end.

Zennor to Zennor

A circular walk in Zennor with my son - first along an old path now known as the 'coffin path' (the route taken by the dead to church....) and then along the cliff tops.
It's a brilliant sunny day and a walk to lift the spirits of the living.

Eric Ravilious and an eye for a path

Eric Ravilious at the Dulwich Picture Gallery: I'd been reading The Old Ways/Robert Macfarlane which discusses his work at length. Like the poet Edward Thomas (also extensively discussed) he was obsessed with the South Downs, and ancient paths. Both were depressives. Both walked apparently in search of a different mental state.
A friend quoted by Macfarlane said that he 'always seemed to be slightly somewhere else, as if he lived a private life which did not completely coincide with material existence'.
Very careful, controlled watercolours. So skilled - here the White Horse and the train up to London: how many times have I been on this train? (Are repeated journeys a form of pilgrimage?)

Such a contrast between these and his paintings as an official World War 2 artist - lots are in the Imperial War Museum. Paintings of the inside a submarine are very haunting and watchful. 

The story ends tragically. Ravilious left for Iceland for the last time just after his wife, Tirza, had a mastectomy and he never returned to the South Downs. 

In August 1942, he was asked to join three planes setting out to find a missing aircraft. They never did -  and only two planes returned to base. Ravilious was on the second plane to go down that day.

Day bed

Would not travel very far at all if I owned this bed.
Imitation is the highest form of flattery - I need a brazier.