Day 36 (25th July 2022)

 I ended up completely cut off from the modern world last night with neither signal nor WiFi so this morning I headed into Newquay for breakfast and a chance to catch up with this here blog. Walked past the Atlantic Coast Tattoo studio. The last time I was in Newquay (1996) I popped in here on the off chance that someone could make do a disastrous tat I had had done in 1984 on the end of Brighton Pier. Although I can no longer remember her name, she came up with a plan, and 3 hours later my left shoulder was transformed. I was very grateful. 

Newquay also happened to be the location of a Germinal CCXXIV place - stop #75

LUSTY GLAZE

Who shuts a beach in the middle of summer?! For crying out loud. What was even more annoying is that I had just shelled out £2.50 in parking. I was not amused. 

Not to worry, now that I'm in deepest Cornwall, Germinal CCXXIV places are coming in thick and strong, and many involve scary cliff walks. I wouldn't usually mind, but Cornwall is starting to rival Scotland in its ability to rain, only down here the wind is even stronger. It made my next destination positively terrifying - stop #76

SAMPHIRE ISLAND

I had a bit of a false start trying to find Samphire Island; I headed off originally from Portreath beach, only to come to a dead end. 30 minutes and soaking wet, I looked at another map and found it was easier to drive and park on the opposite side of the road and walk along the cliff top. I live and learn.

I looked more closely at the map for my next stop, but when I arrived, realised I could kill two birds with one stone as it were. So stop #77

DEADMAN'S COVE

Seriously terrifying cliff top with lots of big cracks, some of this is going to come down very soon.

But back to the other stop #78

HELL'S MOUTH (2)

Easy to spot as it is opposite Hell's Mouth Café and the Samaritans sign on the fence I was leaning on.

The next two stops eluded me on my journey ever westwards, but I'm staying at the campsite in spitting distance of Land's End for 3 days. I will revisit the north coast and tick them off tomorrow. In the meantime, I thought I'd pop down to Land's End itself as there are more Germinal CCXXIV places to bag. 

On the advice of Alvin, the Gardener and general handyman at the farm I'm staying at, I parked at the First & Last Inn, having had a pint of Guinness first and walked from Sennen to Land's End. I made my first pic opportunity stop #79

DR SYNTAX'S HEAD

Yes folks, there really is a place called Dr Syntax's Head. Although most maps, including OS ones name the entire pointy outcrop of rocks as DSH, I was reliably informed by the charming couple I got talking to that there are 2 specific rocks that look exactly like Dr. Syntax

and that the best way to view them is to chamber down the cliff face. However, doing that tends to incur a charge from these people who turned up minutes later to do pick up some miscreant who had done exactly that.

It was very dramatic and all that, but they were getting in the way of stop #80

LONGSHIPS

As lovely as the backdrop of a setting sun was, it was playing havoc with getting my camera phone to actually see the lighthouse that is Longships. On the first few attempts, it had all but vanished in a glare of reflected light on the sea. But I was determined not to do another feeble "it is there, honestly" pic (see Barrel of Butter for example).

There was one other Germinal CCXXIV place to be had before the walk back to Sennen. Stop #81

THE ARMED KNIGHT

If you look closely, Longships is in the background! It is lovely out here, ruined sadly by the Disney nonsense that is the Land's End money making machine. Luckily, if you walk in you avoid getting sucked in and ripped off by the whole experience!

Allons-y 

Douglas Germinal CCXXIV Brain over and out