Stormy St Michaels Mount

Rather windy & grey this morning - but no rain - so far !

Keewaydin passing St Clement's Isle, off Mousehole

Popped into Long Rock as I thought I had seen this vessel approaching when I left home. Unfortunately it was rather misty & gloomy but there she was, the lovely old Lowestoft sailing trawler the Keewaydin - below is her history from their website

The sailing trawler ‘Keewaydin’ has a long and colourful history. She was built in 1913 at Rye by G & T Smith for Lowestoft owners, where she went to trawl the North Sea banks. In 1937 she went to the Baltic, where she was used to carry cargo.She served faithfully in both World Wars, carrying refugees from Denmark to neutral Sweden, and in one trip carried a total of 420 commandos.

Now fully restored she does short sailing holidays around the coast of Britain & Ireland.

Vellanoweth Agapanthus Field

Each year around this time I have intended to get a photo of the Agapanthus field next to the A30 next to the Marazion roundabout. Unfortunately as the layby is on the other side of the road it entails crossing the constant stream of traffic and I have always chickened out ! Today as I drove to Cornwall Farmers for dog food I noticed that the pickers were in the field, so thought "it's now or never" or they might all be gone - so risking life & limb I got across the road & took a few photos. I was lucky on the return walk as the queue to get to the roundabout had built up & a kind lady waved me across in front of her - Phew !

The pickers were carrying huge armfuls which were taken to be sorted

Crates of blue ones !

The blue & white ones were being separated.

A fine sunny day !

A lovely day today, lots of happy holiday makers around after the bad weather yesterday morning. I've been busy re-tiling one of the downstairs bathrooms that had been damaged by leaking plumbing. We were going to take the dogs on a late walk down to the beach, but the incoming clouds and rain on the met office chart sent Jim on a walk "Around Perranuthnoe" & these are his photos. The rain is still out there West of the Isles of Scilly - I presume it's going to arrive eventually.

As the cloud approached the light gave the water a silvery hue.

Climbing the hill up to Trebarvah Farm

The view from the top 0f the hill at Trebarvah

On the way back down to the village

Looking into Perranuthnoe Churchtown - the older part of the village

A very wet day

Unfortunately the weather forecasters got it right and we had torrential rain all day until after 4pm. Such a shame as it ruined Culdrose Air Day for I think, the second year running. They evidently kept promising the flying display would begin - later & later but doubt they managed any. Still, once the skies cleared the hardy holidaymakers were straight down to the beach as the tide was just right (and the car park was free !)

Marine Discovery

The Marine Discovery RIB Shearwater with a full load. They must have been watching the webcams for the blue sky to arrive. Later they took a second load, they came along past us and then went right out towards Tater Dhu, passing Scillonian III on it's way into Penzance.

Back to the beach !

A hardy bunch these holidaymakers, less than half an hour since the rain stopped and there they are, surfing, swimming, kayaking and just enjoying the beach.

Still quite a few clouds out there.

But no more rain, thank goodness !

Evening rainbow

The evening sun lighting a shower cloud with the rainbow going right down to Cudden Point

Penzance Sailing Club PSAB - First one home

This was the first yacht to arrive back from Scilly this afternoon. I wished that we had gone for a walk over at Lamorna or Mousehole so that we could have taken some proper photographs as all the yachts looked stunning with their brightly coloured spinnakers billowing out in front. Unfortunately once we has seen them it was too late to go. We did see the Lugger Happy Return eventually arriving back in the bay around 6pm - a much better trip back than the one out - I gather they arrived in the Islands at around 4am due to headwinds.

Nearly Home !

The main group arriving in the bay

Sorry about the total lack of quality, but it is a long way right over there and it was slightly hazy as well.

Patricia

Managed a quick shot of the Trinity House vessel Patricia as she went past Mousehole. She's at anchor off Newlyn this evening giving her passengers a superb view of The Mount. They carry passengers who have to go with them wherever they need to undertake their "bouyaging Operations"

Common Toadflax

Spotted a few of these Common Toadflax out on Maen Dhu Point. There are usually quite a number of them out there, but the Bracken has grown up very tall & lush this year and most of them must be hidden.

Pink edged Agapanthus

I we walked along the footpath I noticed that these lovely and unusual pink tinged Agapanthus are out in flower again. I meant to try to gather some seeds last year but forgot and then they were pruned !

The first crop of Red Hot Pokers have been knocked about by all the wind & rain. Hopefully there's lots more to come !

The garden looking very lush after both rain and warm weather.

What a difference a day makes !

The Osprey Class 2009 UK National Championships -taking place on 26-29 July. Being hosted by Mount Bay Sailing Club in Marazion. Such a pity the weather is really nasty - chilly & wet.
Here they're just approaching the turn at the big black ball !

Looking a bit chaotic as they round the marker ball & head back across the bay.

Porthgwarra

Since the forecast was good we thought we'd treat ourselves to a day out. We had a really good day, the pasty was superb as usual, and we enjoyed our walk and I even managed to pluck up the courage to walk past the cattle in the far enclosure - the first time since we were chased by an angry cow last Autumn !
Porthgwarra itself has unfortunately had a load of seaweed arrive this week - may well get washed out soon - hope so as the sand underneath is usually really nice.

Why would anyone want to change this !

Here are some of our photos of the stunning area of heathland running down to the cliffs all along the coast from Porthgwarra. Natural England want to change all this with their grazing scheme. They have cattle grazing to supposedly return the heath to the way it was many years ago. Unfortunately there really isn't much for them to eat and over time they will trample all of this stunning plant life - a mixture of gorse, heather & clover. Seems like madness to us and many more like us, but since they get Euro-money for all the fencing etc. it seems they will never be stopped !

More heather then gorse here, although the heather is nearly over.

Nice clouds !

Charlie looking a bit hot after the climb

Tilly in one of her superior poses !

Charlie having a rest !

Well behaved cattle

We had to walk right past these cattle, but they were very calm and hardly gave us a second look. When we looked back we noticed that one of them seemed to belooking at the big blalck bird on the rock in front of it.

We timed our visit just right - John Chappell told us that the cattle had been removed by DEFRA yesterday from the enclosure where they kept falling into the sea, as another went over the cliff the other day.

Walking down towards Pendower Cove

Zawn Susan

I think I remember seeing somewhere that this cave was called Zawn Susan - I can't find it on any maps, but I'd like to think I'm right as I love this Cove (Pendower I think ) !

Kestrel

As we sitting on a rock high above the sea enjoying the view, this Kestrel swooped in and hovered just along the coast.

Longships Lighthouse

One of the huge Grimaldi Lines car carriers, Grande Ellade passing the Longships Lighthouse on her way to Portbury.

Lands End

The Lands End visitor centre dominating the headland

Isles of Scilly, here we come !

Penzance sailing clubs PASAB race they race from Penzance to the Isles of Scilly tonight then around the islands on Sunday and back to Penzance on Monday. For photographs of the start see Keiths photos on http://keithhargreaves.blogspot.com This photo was taken with my camera, and the rest of the race were taken through the 'scope using Jim's old Canon Ixus.

Is that a penalty ?

We though it looked like the Catamaran clobbered our bouy !

Nice to see one of the Luggers joining in