Cornwall 2016 :: part 2

Hello Lovelies,
our Cornish holiday this year took us away from our usual haunts ( the Newquay area). Unsure about which beaches would be suitable for us I did a little online research beforehand.

Praa sands looked hopeful, as so it was our first destination for a full day at the beach. The bay looked hopeful from the car park.........

and the sea looked calm. This was a bonus as this year we had a big blue kayak strapped to our roof rack, and one boy in particular who was desperate to get it in the water.

And so the combined male muscle carried a 12 foot long craft down many steps and along the beach to the designated surfing and watercraft zone....then it was time for the moment of truth......

Phew, all went well, it was an easy paddle and the presence of other Kayaks in the bay seemed reassuring.......

oh yes, those boys of mine were having a lot of fun.......

They have spent many years of Cornish holidays body-boarding and loved it. But at 16 they were keen to be a little more adventurous. The nice thing about this craft is that they will be able to use it in local canals and rivers too.

The day was turning out to be perfect weather-wise.........

we don't travel light do we. Here is the boys lunch ......

Prepared by eldest ( with his hairy legs these days)

As the day wore on the fluffy clouds evaporated and the sun sparkled on the turquoise sea.........

It was hot and too tempting to resist. The whole family, myself included, enjoyed swimming and Kayaking ( though I do need a full wet-suit to brave the chilly water) 

  I'm not  good at just sitting these days, and it was so warm that a good way to keep cool was to walk barefoot along the waters edge.....

 It really was an idyllic beach day......

We stayed until the sun was low in the sky......

And visited again on two more days that week, but this first day was especially memorable.
Jacquie x

The Peak District Hills :: Number One

Hello lovelies,

I'm interrupting my holiday posts today as I want to chat about walking...I do hope you don't mind.

Many of you will know it's a major hobby of mine these days. 

I love my weekly outings with my walking group ( though I have missed quiet a few of these in the school holidays) and this is the second year running that I've challenged myself to do the Walk 1000 miles challenge

Over the summer I've also challenged myself to walk everyday ( that's outdoor miles only) and it's been good fun. I have missed a few days, but really hardly any at all. 

Reading about walking you come across lots of talk about hill "bagging." A strange sort of term, but I suppose it just means that once you have walked up a certain hill it's in the bag.

In Scotland all hills over 3000 feet are called Munros and lots of serious walkers challenge themselves to climb all 282. Munro bagging is a big thing ( How do they find the time!) 

In the Lade District there are lots of different ways of classifying the peaks. For example there are 214 Wainwrights  

Getting into walking later in life I'm ashamed to say I have walked Zero Munros and Zero Wainwrights. And these places are such a long way from where I live I can't imagine being able to change that statistic very soon. And any way I find really high peaks quiet intimidating. I've been to the top of Snowdon (on a train) and it was scary.

But you lovelies know how much I love a hill. So I decided to find some hills that I can "Bag". 

The more modest hills of the Peak District seemed to fit the bill.

  

Close enough to home to travel to in a day ( well some of them) and hopefully not too frightening.

I found a great list HERE of the 27 highest peaks in the Peak District ( those over 1000 feet) .
Twenty Seven...yay. That sounds doable. Looking at the list I have walked Zero of these too.

Time to change that. At the bottom of the list ( at 1,053 feet) is Stanton Moor...ohhh a Moor, in August ( heather time) PERFECT!

And so today we found ourselves parking in pretty village of Birchover near Matlock and heading out to do THIS walk I found online.

The area has many interesting natural rock formations ( with man made climbing holes) ...

and after a steady climb we got to the very un-frightening and flat summit.

How I loved the mass of purple......

The Cork Stone........

As well as the natural rock formations there is evidence of quarrying in times past.......

Far from seeming like scars these areas were so pretty.....

Looking across the heather and Gorse......

 more deep Quarry holes.......

and bees on Heather......

Man made cliffs I presume.......

all swathed in purple.....

There were well worn paths across the moors that eventually led down into pretty Silver Birch Woodland........

I was looking forward to seeing the Bronze age stone circle in this area. It looked so pretty in pictures I had seen. As we approached I could see it was very busy though. Can you see it at the top of this image?........

 There was a group who were doing Yoga I think...fair enough. But they had draped their coats over the stones and were being watched by larger drinking campers. Quiet odd!.......

We didn't hang around.

 I loved the view across the valley here.......

If you click on this picture you should be able to read the information about the moor and see how the stone circle used to look........

Another plant, along with the Heather, I was happy to see were the bilberry bushes. They are tiny fruits but remind me of many happy childhood hours spent gathering  these for jam making........

At the tower we stopped for a drink and a small snack but I wished I had brought more food as it was lunchtime.......

Soon we were off again, peeping through the trees.........

negotiating the paths........

Staring at the view.......

We descended  from the moor and came upon a busy campsite......

It had so much going on. Archery lessons and a climbing wall were both busy with children. And happily there was a van selling hot dogs for the hungry boys, phew.......

Loved their Hydrangeas too......

Back in Birchover the sun was shining and the stone cottages looked extra pretty.....

 Thank you Stanton moor for being so beautiful and easy to "bag". Now, I wonder which hill will be next?
  I'm not setting myself any time limit on this challenge. It's mainly a way to discover some new places and varying upland landscapes.

Jacquie x

Cornwall 2016 :: part one

Hello Lovelies,
sorry it's been quiet around here. I hope you are all keeping well.
A couple of weeks ago we enjoyed a long awaited week by the sea. This  year mum came with us and I drove her car down to Cornwall so she could do her own thing sometimes while we were there.
Road closures, roadworks and heavy traffic turned that journey into a 9 hour marathon.
What a relief it was to finally arrive at our destination. How beautiful is this view!......

We regrouped with the rest of the family and headed down to the beach........

I loved the lighthouse off  Gwithian beach

We had travelled though heavy cloud all the way, so to see blue skies appear shortly after our arrival was wonderful. The light in Cornwall always seems special on a sunny day.........

Oh look, a plane flying over with a banner. Another common sight in these parts :0).....

"♥LISA♥MARRY ME"........

Wonder if Lisa said yes?

The boys and their cousins were soon heading into the surf for a quick dip........

 I was happy with a paddle .....

Beautiful St Ives bay..........

after an hour or so it was time to go and find our accommodation. We walked back up to the car park,

And I found Mum on the clifftops......

As always she had been painting..........

I love how this little watercolour sketch turned out.......

Back Soon with part two.
Jacquie x