Saints Stuff

It’s all from childhood and adult trips. My mum’s family was from Cornwall. I grew up with my mum having 2 aunties, 2 uncles, 3 cousins and their children living there. One uncle was a part-time fisherman and when we were very young (4-8) he would leave us playing in the rock pools while he rowed out to check his nets before breakfast.

My mum’s cousin was also a part-time fisherman and also used to run the little boat that would take tourists from Marazion to St Michael’s mount when the tide was in. He still lives in one of the tiny cottages on The Mount.

Mum’s Aunty (who must be 90+ now) reluctantly moved into a home a couple of years back. She was reluctant to move because her house was a little terraced house that was 40 paces from the steps that led down to my favourite beach in the world; not the main one in Marazion, but just round the corner from the tiny harbour there.... it was only acccessibke from these steps or when the tide was out and you could walk/climb across the rocks at the harbour entrance (a really tiny harbour - I’d guess the entrance was 10m across and the harbour itself 30 x 40m). That beach was never found or used by tourists and it had about 20m of shingle/pebbles when the tide was in and when the tide retreated it revealed about a 200m deep stretch of rock pools that carried on along the bay for about a mile. As a child and adult I have spent hours and hours and hours rock pooling that beach.

This was and still is my heaven. Mum wanted her ashes scattered there and we duly obliged.

There is a guest house/Inn in Mousehole called The Old Coastguard Inn, that I used to take my wife to in March and October (purposefully out of season and in the wind and rain) when we were courting. I loved it. It used to be £70 for a double room and they had an annexe at the bottom of the car park away from the main building that had 4-6 rooms. Each room faced the sea, which started 10m or so away. Incredible. I checked to go again about 8 years ago and it had been taken over, done up and looked full of glossy white walls i’d expect in a dentists surgery. It was over £200 a night. I didn’t go.

Cornwall has a very special place in my heart and I always tell people that tiny little Marazion is my favourite place in the world.

Thanks Mum. RIP.

 

Amazing. Such good support

 

Indeed. It certainly shows how things have changed.

To be fair SFC since the 80s have attempted to sell the club as a package, including education, to youth players and their parents. In those days not making it as a top fliight player had potentionally more consequences if you'd not got a backup plan. Parents were aware of this and I'm sure many chose to place their kids here because of this.

These days even a 'jobbing' L3 player may clear above £5000 a week, so still earn more in a modest 15yr football career than many of us in a 40yr working life.

But most importantly looking at those photos I'm reminded how much I liked that 'sash' kit, would much prefer it than this year's model.

 

I'll tell you what there's a chish and dips shop in Hayle who's cod fillets are to die for...............Marazion is the one place I swear I saw my daughter run on water leaving her baby brother to face a shark in the water. He was on a paddle board. It was a big un granted and she wasn't to know it was a basking shark. She was however willing to let her ward be eaten by it............

 

Used to see basking sharks off Sennen Cove

 

Another place we used to go a lot. The children loved Cornwall and our holidays there. They used to like the seaside so much we were persuaded to buy a caravan just outside Weymouth when the girls were small. So much so it is still their favourite haunt for themselves and their own children. At least once a month they all go down for a weekend including my son. My sons abroad also try to go down for a weekend when they are over. My son came over in early June and stayed in Marazion for a weekend. He was only over for 5 days!!

 

Evolution...survival of the fittest

 

Just in case any of you have Spurs supporting relatives, here is a link to their very stylish t-shirts.



https://mail.yahoo.com/d/folders/1/messages/37156?.intl=es&.lang=es-ES&.partner=none&.src=fp

 

I caught some of the magic of Cornwall right there.

 

A place that stands out to me from my walk of the SWCP was Porthcurno. I came down into Porthcurno down a steep set of steps from the Minack Theatre on the cliff top to the west. As always with my trip, I didn't know what was coming up next and as the evenings came in I would be on the look out for somewhere to set up camp for the night. Following a long days walking I came over that cliff top and saw Porthcurno in the evening light and it looked like Paradise. It seemed like a secret little beach hidden between two steep cliffs. I set up my tent above the beach, kicked off my walking boots and wandered down the sandy beach and paddled in the ice blue clear sea. And what's even better? The pub was open for it's last night before shutting down for the winter. Winner winner chicken dinner...and a cider or two.

 

Much of coastal Cornwall I found out about as a child. But the Porthcurno region was an adult discovery. Porthcurno beach is famous for where the undersea telegraph cables left the UK and went worldwide. As an under-sea fibre-optic cable engineer at the time, I had to see that place. And it's beautiful. Facing out to sea, the English Channel is giving way to the Atlantic Ocean, so the vista from the clifftops is huge. To the right, on top of the cliffs is the Minack Theatre. I've seen two plays there and each time was a real experience, as the daylight fell away and the night sky appeared. I recommend that to anyone. Just along west is a very secluded little place where they used to pull up all the mackerel boats. 30 years ago we bought mackerel straight off the boat. We went back about 5 years ago and the mackerel have gone north. The waters are too warm now. Incidentally, that Hard appears in many episodes of BBC's Poldark.

 

That’s beautiful too

 

Came back from a week there yesterday, would be putting in the motions to move there tomorrow if i could.

 

Bloody hell reading all that was both brilliant and depressing all at the same time

 

Small world or what........My wife has just informed me we are off to Hayle for a couple of days to see her step sister mid July ish........

 

Listening to all this talk about Cornwall reminds me of my visits in the early 70s...around Hayle...lovely area and you can easily visit the whole county as it's quite skinny. I walked the coastline...going so far....then taking the car the next day to where we finished the day before. Those were the days....never seemed to get tired.

 

You have a poetic soul, my friend. Beautifully written. Went down well with a late coffee and croissant. Cornwall has largely passed me by over the decades, but this piece has made me think I must get down there this autumn - avoid summer hoidays being a good idea, I imagine. Thank you.

I don't quite understand how this forum, which is inhabited by such clearly lovely people, has failed to get on my radar. Bit like Cornwall, I suppose, but never late than never.

 

The week I've just had there was my first proper visit and I can see how people fall in love with it. I'd love to live down there.

 

On no account go in August!

The thing is, even in winter it never really gets cold in the far southwest, but it can get very wet and windy!