Cornwall Archive

some mid-winter sun afloat.

as promised.. a couple of snaps to illustrate a day on the water that ‘wrapped around’ the instance of finding that little model sailing boat in my last post. The weather at the moment seems to be very much ‘all or nothing’.. from gale-force winds and heavy seas to no wind at all and a mirror calm.. and today back to gale force winds. So yesterday was a very quiet day on the sea, almost …

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winter paddling, again

Yesterday paddled out of Pendower beach (+50° 12′ 19.70″, -4° 56′ 48.20″, going to start including some lat/longs as some folk apparently are interested in looking at the map/google earth…) heading east towards Dodman Point. Some satisfyingly bouncy conditions and a decent surf to play in at Porthluney/Caerhays (+50° 14′ 7.55″, -4° 50′ 32.78″) under passing rain showers followed by a gloriously sunny winter afternoon paddling home. I don’t have a waterproof camera at the …

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a quiet ocean

I’ve been feeling utterly uninspired to write this past few weeks.. something to do with the prolonged spell of proper summer weather so when not busy working just spending all my time on the bike, in the surf (when there is some…) or in the kayak. No real words today, just a few pics from a day on which the Atlantic ocean was exceptionally quiet.. potentially rather dull for someone that likes playing in the …

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Summer.. at last!

a fabulously sunny, self-indulgent weekend consisting of lots of miles on my bike Saturday and a terrific day on the water today. Launched out of Sennen for a trip around ‘the end’ with friends. Just enough swell coming in from the Atlantic to make it fun, and admittedly jangle the nerves a little at times negotiating some very tight spots in and around the cliffs below Lands End (there’s a joke in there about ‘cracks’ …

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A Boatbuilder’s Story.. getting there!

** update: now available, click here ** Time for a long overdue update on ‘A Boatbuilder’s Story‘.. it’s been taking a lot longer than expected..  it took a bit of a back seat recently as I’ve become increasingly busy with my business.. a good thing, and when not working just plain guilty of spending a lot of time out on my bike or out on the water.. I call it “thinking time’. However.. the text is now …

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a bit more sea kayaking of a Lizard flavour

it’s a beautiful day and the surf is pumping but I have a sore throat and a cough.. if it was summer I’d ignore it and go in anyway but it’s only a couple of degs C outside as I write so prudence dictates I leave the waves to my friends today and catch up with kayak repairs and so on instead.. I should probably get some work done too… I figured I’d post a …

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Thursday, Lizard o’clock..

Met up with a couple of friends for a paddle out of Kennack Sands, approaching Lizard Point from the eastern side for a change, and continuing on round to Kynance Cove, very much a favoured lunch stop, for, err.. lunch before heading back… It was a fabulous early winter day on the water.. mellow with a bit of sun, some dramatic skies, enough wave action for some fun and very quiet. Perfect.

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more Lands End sea kayak

Yesterday I joined a couple of friends, Mark, visiting from Dorset, and regular paddling buddy Sam, for a day out padding the seas around Lands End.. again.. but it never gets boring there. This time conditions were a perfect balance of light winds but with some wave action to make rock-hopping and ‘caving’ fun, some swells to surf and big spring tides so the tidal races off Gwennap Head and the Longships reefs were going …

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Scilly paddling..

Here we are…further to my last post I’m back from guiding for/with Sea Kayaking Cornwall in the Isles of Scilly , a tailor-made sea kayaking destination if ever there was one. I lucked out with a terrific group which made the week so much more fun… including a bureau chief for Janes Defence (we had lots to talk about given my background..), a Doctor of Geology and even a certain Steve Backshall.. which just goes …

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Bag Lady..

.. not what you might expect, and you’d be unlikely to find one as shapely as this.. the lady in question being a sea kayak, more specifically an NDK Romany called Rosie, named as such by her owner who has left her in my care… I tend not to name kayaks but thinking about it a sea kayak is probably not a bloke.. whoever heard of a kayak called “Dave” for example.. which no doubt …

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West Cornwall

Earlier this year the Cornwall Tourist Board released a series of short videos, this one below is west Cornwall.. my home. Lucky enough to be born and brought up here studies, work, travel took me away for many years before I found my way back. The weather can be miserable, sometimes it feels like the arse end of nowhere and economically things are pretty tough down here but this movie pretty much sums why I’ll …

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lichen

Beautifully rich colours in the lichen growing on the rocks out at Lizard Point today. The greenish rock it’s growing on is Serpentine, the geology of the area really is quite special..

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April sky

fantastic sky over Godrevy Lighthouse this morning as heavy April showers sweep in from the northwest… I was down at the Sunset Café for a meeting on my bike but happened to have a compact in my pocket.

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hiker envy…

The summers in eastern Canada and the north-east US are hot and buggy. These places were my weekend playgrounds for the years I lived in Montréal. Winter-time one could travel by snowshoe, ski and crampon without suffering the attention of hordes of miniature bloodsucking monsters, not to mention being mindful of bears and so on. In the summer months however by far the most relaxed way to travel for multi-day wilderness journeys was by Canadian …

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winter ocean

While the rest of the nation apparently froze it’s collective nuts off yesterday, west Cornwall was, at +4C merely a bit nippy. With light winds and just a lazy groundswell running paddling conditions out along the west coast of the Lizard between Poldhu and Kynance were particularly mellow… although later in the day the tide, in spots, was running at between 2 and 3 knots and kicking up some impressive overfalls, adding a frisson of …

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