It was a dank, dark, muddy path that led from near the llama field to the cliff top, Cornwall Coast path at Beeny. Footwear is always a problem on these occasions. For that stretch of the walk wellies would have been ideal, but they’d have been hot and awkward for the rest of the time. The good old walking boots did the job although when we reached open country I rinsed the bottom of my boots in a handy cattle trough. I was carrying my telescope and I have adopted the ‘trousers tucked in socks’ style for it keeps the trousers cleaner in muddy conditions. So I probably looked what I am not – a seasoned walker, knowledgeable about all around me.
Actually, I was just happy to admire the beauty of Beeny Cliffs.
It was a little misty as we arrived, but even so the cliffs to the northeast looked lovely. O did those towards the southwest.
That was the direction we walked, for we had headed out to Beeny on a near certain promise of seals, way below us on beach or in the sea. And to the southwest, towards Boscastle, there was an area called Seal Hole. Surely that was the place to go. But it wasn’t a seal that caught my eye first. It was a bird – clearly some kind of a chat, but at the time just what it was defeated me.
It perched on the gorse, right on the cliff top. It chuntered away. I took several photos, creeping ever closer, and finally I was close enough to get a tolerable, enlarged photo
I backed away and the chuntering stopped and became a delightful bird song.
Down below, the waves broke over the rocks and then we reached a good old National Trust sign.
We also met a fellow walker and fell into conversation. It is one of the pleasures of walking the less well trod areas that everybody you meet becomes an instant friend. This chap was a local – he lived in Beeny with a wife who found life hard – he described her as ‘people phobic’. He walked the cliffs bird watching. He did bird surveys for the RSPB. I showed him the photo on the back of my camera and asked him what it was, but strangely he wasn’t sure, but he had watched us watching something so he knew just where to go and look. I offered to call at his house with a lap top later in the day for he seemed to think this bird was unusual. That was when he talked about the difficulties of his wife. He, on the other hand, thought we were fantastically lucky to live in Wiltshire (and so we are) but his cliff walks were stunning. By the way, the bird has been identified by some as a dunnock. I'm not wholly convinced. Any help out there?
Near the centre you can see the white coast guard lookout on the hill beyond Boscastle. With a foreground, and zoomed out, you can see it is quite some distance away.
The sun was breaking through and the colours were just great.
This was mid February. What a fantastic scene.
We were now much nearer to Boscastle and enjoying a great walk. The Beeny Bird Man had pointed out a circular tour we could take, slightly inland to this point and then back along the more up and down cliff edge. We were now by Seal Hole. Time for a telescope!
At that time there were no seals to be seen but the Boscastle look out post stood out well. It is still the better part of two kilometres away.
On the steep downhill, I had got a little ahead of Sue so I just had a shadow for company.
Of course, the sun can be a nuisance for photography. This was Pentargon, beloved of Emma, the wife of Thomas Hardy. The bay faced precisely west so the rolling Atlantic waves really did hit hard. And bless the place, for I spotted one seal swimming in the water, Beeny Bird Man had told us that we’d be more likely to see seals as the tide dropped and near gull rock. Er, every rock is called gull rock!
The walkers had gone coat free for the walk on the harsher path back.