Farewell To Summer.

Whilst it has remained warm the strong winds and wild seas made it feel as if autumn has arrived. It did get sunnier and warmer in the afternoon and I may even take a break out on the terrace in a bit.

My goal today was to finish off the recycling store. An achievable goal I thought as there was only the door to do. There were many trips back and forth from the recycling store by the porch to the garage where all the tools are and eventually the door was cut to size. This did involve not one but two adjustments (ie hand sawing) to the width partly due to there being metal staples buried in the wood right on my cut line and partly because seeing the door get smaller and smaller was making me nervous. That done and all the newly cut edges treated with wood preservative all that was left to do was to fit the hinges and latch. Unfortunately neither of those came with screws and despite there being sets and jars of screws in the garage we didn't have the ones I needed to do a neat job. Pete has ordered a set of the ones I need which should arrive in a few days so completion will have to wait until then. 

With some time on my hands I went into the garden to do some cutting back. Much as I hate to lose the silvery foliage of the curry plants I've cut them right back to their greener foliage. If the autumn stays warm I should get some silver leaves back quite soon. I also planned to start cutting back the lavender so that we can walk along the path without getting soaked by the wet stems brushing our legs. But there were a few small bumblebees desperately visiting the few remaining flowers. No way could I deprive them of this last food source so that job has been postponed for the time being.

Today I noticed that a blue fescue has finally sprung back into life. It has been looking dead for over a year ever since a cat peed on it but I wanted to give it a chance and how right I was.

Rhaeadr Bwa Drain

Today has been wet. not all the time but when it did rain it was intense heading towards deluge levels this evening (and still raining at 9.00).

This afternoon's walk was along Cwm Rheidol and then up to Rhaeadr Bwa Drain [rye-a-dir boo-a drine].

 

There were only four of us on the walk today. I guess that was due to the wet weather and the fact that it is a Bank Holiday weekend and people are either away, at one of many festivals or spending time with their families.

Before setting off on our walk we made a diversion to see the falls. Since I avoid having random people in my photos I had to position myself carefully to hide the family group having a picnic on a rock right in the middle of the river. Just behind us were another family having a picnic on the shore with dogs and children playing in the water.

E and S had other plans. Not to cool their feet or even have a paddle but to stand in the water and let the minnows nibble on their feet. Like those fancy fish pedicures you see on the internet. I would have joined them but my leggings wouldn't roll up high enough.

Instead I busied myself watching the wildlife. There in the middle of the river was a yellow wagtail. Although pied wagtails are common and often seen in car parks, the yellow wagtail is a summer visitor from Africa and the numbers are so low it is on the red list. Not only that but the distribution map from the RSPB site doesn't show it in Wales at all.

The next thing to catch my eye was this female golden ringed dragonfly. I know it was a female because it kept stopping to dip its abdomen below the water's surface to lay eggs.

And then I started seeing splashes as trout jumped out of the water to catch flying insects. Not the best photo but I couldn't spend longer waiting for the perfect shot. S, who lives nearby and is an eco-activist was especially pleased as there haven't been any trout in the river for years. There were certainly plenty today.

As we watched to see the trout jumping S spotted a small bird and using the camera we were able to see it was a dipper. I had always wanted to see one of these birds that hunts underwater for small creatures amongst the stones.

Moving away from the river we climbed the side of the valley into the temperate rain forest that covers the slopes when they aren't manicured into useless conifer plantations.

At first the path was quite easy to walk along but then we diverted into much more overgrown areas where the whole path was on a tilt and the downhill side of the path was often crumbling away. It took a lot of concentration to walk along the path and when I got home my my legs certainly felt the strain.

Eventually we reached our goal, a bridge which gave us a good view of the Bwa Drain waterfall.

While much reduced after the recent dry spell it was still impressive seeing the water flowing down from the top of the hill. We had seen the very first trickles of the waterfall from above on our recent walk to the hillfort of Bwa Drain and it was interesting to see it from a different perspective.

We then had to retrace our steps back through the woods and got caught in a downpour just before reaching S's field and then her house. A welcome cup of tea and cake were had indoors this time, usually we sit outside and watch for the smoke of the steam train on its way to Devil's bridge.

Take that, Seagulls.

Warm but with plenty of heavy showers today. In between showers I got the main part of the recycling store done, just the door left to do. Because I'm not a very good carpenter there was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing as I checked each piece at every stage. I know from experience that trusting to my measurements and racing ahead is a recipe for disaster. But it is done; the side, four posts, and a solid top finished off with a layer of roofing rubber. And the only materials I had to buy were a latch, hinges and some clouts. Once the door is done any seagulls with mischief on their minds will have to go elsewhere.

During a rainy spell I got on with the big garage tidy moving some of the bigger stuff around. At the moment the large open space in the middle looks impressive until you see everything piled up at the far end. But slowly things are being sorted, some things will go to the Climate shop or the zoo and some to the dump.

Now for the final instalment of our trip to St Ives (though pretty sea pictures will probably keep appearing for a while.) - 

I was given a sizeable garden voucher by our good friends and having spotted a Dobbie's garden centre near St Ives when we arrived of course there was no question about where our first stop on the journey home would be. Pete is always happy to stop for a cooked breakfast though we had read some dreadful reviews about the cleanliness and service in the café. As we were going to be there as soon as they opened Pete thought it was worth a chance. But everything was as clean as possible and the service was excellent. Possibly due to the presence of an lady inspector  checking everything and asking lots of questions.

Meanwhile I was out in the garden centre and first found some ceramic spheres that match some big pots I already have then a really pretty planter that reminds me of the sea and another aeonium. I had bought two green ones from a local craft shop and already have a large specimen of the black one. Due to the climate (no frosts) aeoniums grow everywhere in St Ives as do agapanthus. The ones I moved from the back garden are looking healthy and the new one will replace a dead hydrangea in the front garden.

This photo (from the web) shows St Ives many beaches and yes the sea is often that colour. Starting from the top Porthmeor is the surfing beach. Moving clockwise past the island you come to Porthgwidden a sheltered beach suitable for families with a line of buoys stopping boats from landing there. Then comes Bamaluz beach a very small beach that disappears at high tide. Then there is the sand behind Smeaton's Pier which is mainly underwater but is a great place to watch the waves from the rocks or piers. Then comes the harbour which even at high tide has a strip of sand under the harbour wall. Porthminster, a long sandy beach great for families is just out of sight to the left. Even if St Ives didn't have the pretty jumble of Downalong the beaches alone would make it a fantastic holiday spot.

After our stop at the garden centre the drive home was fairly plain sailing. The motorways were busy but we didn't come to a grinding halt anywhere which is one of the perils of there being only one way back out of Cornwall and the south-west. 

We had one service station stop where shocked at being charged £5 for a cup of coffee I only bought one. We happened to have one of our large ceramic mugs handy and with the coffee decanted into that there was plenty for both of us along with some bacon sandwiches I had made before setting off. It was quite a civilised breakfast (second breakfast for Pete) sitting at a picnic table on a patch of grass.

I think the whole journey including stops took just over seven hours which wasn't too bad.

The view from the 'balcony' doors. A shame they didn't open especially when it was very hot though there were a number of fans to use. The sitting room also had a porthole window looking out towards Godrevy lighthouse.

Looking out of the kitchen window one afternoon I watched a couple of squirrels running along the cables that ran between the telegraph poles.

Still More St Ives.

It seemed odd not to be heading down to the stables this morning but on the other hand it was nice not to be sticking to a schedule. 

At first it looked as if we were going to have another wet day but by the afternoon things brightened up. I didn't bother going to Morrison's this week but just did town and Lidl.

When I got home I unpacked the shopping, cooked up more stewed apples, had a rest and then carried on working on the recycling store. So far I have the side cut to size and all four of the uprights cut so that the top will slope. All those parts have been painted with a random tin of wood preserver to give them a chance to last longer.

Now back to sunny St Ives and Monday - (I've corrected yesterday's typo),

 

Vytas and Sally called in to say goodbye before they set off for their journey home. It had been lovely to have their company. Once they'd left we walked down to town joining the melee of ambling visitors and traffic making our way as quickly as possible up to The Island stopping on the way to buy a couple of pasties for our lunch.

We ate our pasties in the shelter of one of the buildings at the top of the Island as by then the wind was very strong, Pete reckoned force 5, well he is experienced in such things. We also made sure to keep our pasties safe from marauding seagulls. The ones in St Ives will literally swoop down and grab food from your hands if you aren't careful.

After a walk around the Island Pete then headed back to our apartment while I had a leisurely walk around reliving childhood memories.

Of course the harbour beach with the three distinctive arches of Smeaton's Pier had been my main playground being only yards from my home. No adult supervision needed in those days.

Smeaton's Pier was built to shelter the harbour from the force of the wind and the Atlantic waves. The far side is now a popular place for people to sit and watch the waves crashing on the rocks and against the pier.

Eventually I had to take my leave of the sea and head back up busy Fore Street. At least I knew we will be retuning soon otherwise it would have been so hard.

Our dinner that night was the remains of the previous night's take away which was still a large amount. The night was hot and I woke after a few hours eventually getting up and watching the 24 hour news.

O Borth i Borthia (From Borth to St Ives).

The forecast was spot on today. We woke to torrential rain, lightning flashes and sustained rumbles of a thunderstorm overhead. Hopefully all that rain will soak into the ground rather than run off causing flooding. Since then it has rained on and off all day and been generally warm. I went out during a dry spell and dug up a couple of pounds of potatoes for tonight's supper. I planted a few potatoes some years ago and they keep reappearing as if by magic.

I was really tired at choir last night and though I've slept well since we got home I'm still pretty tired. Not surprising since I only slept for two hours on Monday night (too hot) and about four on Saturday night (too much excitement and thoughts going around my head). I've had a quiet day catching up on small jobs and wasn't too disappointed when I found that I was the only person booked in for tomorrow's riding lesson. Rather than have a private lesson, expensive and too much focus on me, I cancelled for this week. 

I did still manage to do some more work in the garage, mainly moving tiles around so that all the spares including a lot of roof tiles (not sure why we need 60 giant square roof tiles) are in one place.

Now for an account of our Sunday - 

It was yet another sunny day while the wind had dropped so the waves were more ripples than breakers suitable for bodyboarding.

Vytas and Sally came to our place in the morning and the three of us walked back into St Ives. It was already busy as we walked along Fore Street but we decided to save our serious shop browsing until after we had had a wander around Downalong and The Island. 

Naturally I had to show them my old home and took a photo of Vytas to match the one I have of my mother sitting outside the entrance into the Sail Loft Gallery that she ran. It looks like those are the exact same doors as in 1960.

It was on The Island that I found out that the Cornish name for St Ives is Porthia. In Cornish Porth means cove/gate/port (of St Ia) and like in Welsh Cornish words mutate so Porthia becomes Borthia after some prepositions. Borth used to be Y Borth which is the mutated form of Porth meaning gate, door or port. A nice little connection.

From the top of The Island we could see down to Porthmeor beach which was unsurprisingly busy,

and looking across Downalong we could see the harbour and Porthminster beach.

Walking back through Downalong I took a photo of Sally standing under an arch to match some postcards I have from 1911. This area which housed fishermen and port workers already existed in the 1600s.

Having enjoyed the views from The Island we then had a leisurely stroll along Fore Street where we browsed craft shops, thought we'd lost Sally in a bookshop but then found her engrossed in the local geology and history section, picked out handmade chocolates (thank you Vytas) and in the same shop were plied with sample after sample of local spirits, the spiced rum with honey was very nice but my favourite was Cornish Nevek, a cream liqueur similar to but nicer than Bailey's. Again thank you to Vytas who bought me a large bottle of Nevek. 

We also bought pasties which we took back to the apartment to have for lunch followed by chocolates for dessert with Pete who had been enjoying a well deserved rest after the previous day's drive.

But the youngsters are always full of energy and after lunch we walked down to Porthminster beach. Vytas and Sally did some snorkelling but saw no fish while I went in to above my knees and then decided the Atlantic was far too cold and beat a retreat to lay on the sand enjoying the sun.

Later we all met up to enjoy local ales and listen to some live music at the Mine Taproom. We were serenaded by a girl who sang very mellow slightly jazz covers of popular folk music accompanied by a guy playing a guitar who sometimes sang as well. One ale enjoyed by our little group was a very clever play on words. It was called FeS2 which if you were a scientist you would know is iron sulphide, iron pyrite aka fool's gold I guess if you drank too much of this yellow drink it would make you a fool too. Not being a beer drinker I had a delicious glass of home made lemonade.

And course we had to end the day with yet another meal, this time a Chinese take away. Rather than pick out individual dishes we settled on a 'meal for four' which turned out to be far more than even the youngsters could eat. Better too much than not enough I suppose.

And that was Saturday. I couldn't think of a nicer way to spend my 70th birthday.

Saturday. (and today.)

It's been very warm today with the temperature going up to 32C in the afternoon. While it is still dry I got on with some gardening, cutting back the knautia as its leaves are becoming mildewed and taking lots of cuttings of some of the grey leaved plants that have done well in the dry conditions. Hopefully enough will take for me to be able to start changing the raised beds to cope with the hot summers.

Now for our mini break - 

It felt very odd to be leaving Borth in the early hours of the morning and by the afternoon to be in St Ives which has always felt a world away.

We left at 6.30 and I drove the first 120 miles through Wales. All went well until we got stuck in a convoy of Italian motorhomes, eight in front of us and more behind. This was up in the mountains so there was no chance of getting past. Annoyingly they seemed to be obeying the many speed signs in kilometres rather than miles! which made for quite slow going.

We stopped at Magor services from where Pete took over the driving. The motorway and then A30 traffic was heavy but kept moving for the most part. We stopped once more following service station signs that took us to a retail village. We ended up parking in a McD's car park next to a row of Teslas being charged where a helpful chap cleaning the car park suggested the toilets in the M&S across the road were a better choice. Off I went and of course had to have a quick browse through the active wear section. I just had to buy some lovely looking blue and black leggings but sadly when I tried them on later the fabric wasn't quite right. The ankles were tight and the upper part of the legs were a bit baggy (my legs are not skinny). So I'll take them back to our local M&S.

We did some shopping at the Tesco's just outside St Ives before arriving at our apartment. It was up on the hill above Porthminster beach with good views across the bay to Godrevy lighthouse off the North Cornwall coast. From there it was a good 10 mins walk into town and coming back up the steep roads was quite challenging especially for Pete. The apartment was much as we'd seen in the listing and as many reviewers had said some of the sitting room furniture was shoddy and uncomfortable. Luckily the bed was fine and everywhere was as clean as it could be. Unfortunately the doors to the Juliet balcony couldn't be opened which was a shame in the hot weather. The apartment was an attic conversion with only a strip about 2ft wide down the centre of the rooms at full height. The rest of the ceilings sloped down and after a number of hard knocks we learnt to bend down when moving around. 

After unpacking we walked down to The Sloop Inn by the harbour where I left Pete enjoying a beer while I went out for a walk.

Fore Street, the main street in the old part of St Ives, At times it would be completely packed (more than in the photo) and cars and vans drove down it as well. Pete hates walking in crowds especially when people are ambling from one side to another and then stopping to look in the many very nice craft/ clothing/ gift shops and numerous bakeries selling similar cakes and different varieties of pasties. My mantra was 'be like a fish' where like a fish in a shoal I slowly slid my way through the people weaving around any obstruction in a relaxed manner. It may sound strange but it worked and the crowded conditions didn't bother me. Maybe being engrossed in the many memories that came flooding in also helped.

St Ives is surrounded by beaches which were also crowded with people enjoying the sun. I couldn't resist walking barefoot through the harbour beach which had been my playground when I was little. I do miss having a soft sandy beach. 

It may sound that St Ives was a heaving mass of people and in places it was but a few minutes into the narrow streets and courtyards of Downalong and it got much quieter.

(Below) The black arrow points to what used to be my home right by the harbour.

After a walk around some of my old haunts I joined Pete in The Sloop and it wasn't long before Vytas and Sally arrived. Later we moved to The Captain's Table, some very low ceilinged rooms above the pub where we had an excellent meal. Pete and Vytas had catch of the day which was fresh sea bass, Sally had crab linguini and I had a fish chowder with mussels and other shellfish. There might have been some puddings too. Eventually we went back down into the pub and listened to a guy singing and playing a guitar while we waited for a cab. It was a bit loud but he played a range of music. I sang along to Dylan and Donovan songs and Vytas and Sally sang along to REM numbers.

And that was the first day of our weekend.