A spot of spring to lift the spirits….
Tag: Penwith
Penwith Pootle
Hitting the eject button with a two-day micro-adventure close to home in the far west of Cornwall. Linking together a bunch of muddy tracks and trails with a night on the cliffs made for a perfect journey of (re)discovery.
In The West
Cornish lockdown riding diaries; time for reflection & reconnecting with my local area – a spiritual place with a deep connection to the ages.
Early Spring Lunch
Last weekend Cornwall was still very much in the grip of winter, but spring does appear to have since arrived… yesterday the sun was warm, the wind was light and the lanes were fragrant with the scent of flowers.. so a spin out for lunch with a riding buddy was in order.. it turned into an all day, slightly muddy, exploration of Penwith backroads, bridleways and tracks with lunch in the sunshine atop the granite cliffs …
Winter Palette
Have been feeling utterly uninspired to write of late – no stories to tell or anything much interesting at all to say really… just riding and stuff… I think it’s a late winter thing but with spring proper just around the corner I’m hoping that will change. I always quite look forward to winter – in October I’m thinking about winter things – the satisfaction of cold and stormy winter rides or sea kayak days …
Storm IX
The ninth severe storm of the season barrelled into the cliffs of Cornwall yesterday. It was the most savage so far in what has been a very stormy winter. Our winters are becoming noticeably more stormy, no doubt a consequence of climate change, but also hoping that the relentless stormy weather this year is also partly attributable to the current El Niño. There have been precious few days this winter with sunshine and light winds. Two in fact …
Winter Skies West
if you’re a regular reader you’ll have noticed that I spend quite a lot of time amongst the granite of west Penwith. I feel very at home with the cliffs there. It is a magnificent place and even better to arrive amongst the towering spires by making a journey, even a small one, there by bicycle.. or kayak, as in this case. I won’t bore you with lots of words, my ideal blog post takes about …
In the West
Found myself just a little bit west of here yesterday afternoon. A favourite place to be when conditions are rough… and it is always better in the winter. So…. pictures. These, I think, make quite a nice complement to the summer time series from the same area posted here: https://www.seasurfdirt.com/2015/08/21/penwith-colour
Penwith Colour
Earlier this week I had a friend visiting for a couple of days so of course a day out on the cliffs for a hike was somewhat obligatory, after all the granite cliffs of Penwith are one of Cornwall’s greatest assets. It’s not something I often do in the summer season – usually at sea level in a kayak or on two wheels… I do tend to prefer the cliffs in winter when the weather …
West Cornwall Sea Kayak Meet
This past weekend was the West Cornwall Sea Kayak meet.. an informal gathering of sea kayakers from all over the country. It was excellent. Something like 80 paddlers from far flung corners of the UK showed up which was especially brilliant as we are out on a bit of a limb down here in darkest Cornwall so it does take a bit of effort to make the journey.. the reward however is some really world-class sea …
a spot of Penwith
It is a magical bit of coastline that has inspired writers, artists and film makers for centuries but conditions yesterday from a photographic point of view were uninteresting – the north coast of the Penwith Peninsula is one of the most rugged, wild stretches of coastline in England.. but facing northwest as it does with clear blue skies and just a lazy, small groundswell running yesterday it was very much a case of simply enjoying the …
a late summer weekend
Now that racing has finished for me for the season making the most of what is left of summer to catch up on some paddling. We weren’t able to get on the water until after lunch on Saturday so stayed local with a quick 17 mile dash west in idyllic conditions to pitch up for the night on Gwenvor followed by a similar distance again Sunday morning albeit into the teeth of a stiff north-easterly.