Day 41 (30th July 2022)

 We had a cute little visitor last night. We were wondering who had taken a few delicate bites out of an apple. The campsite instructions ask you not to dispose of food into the hedges as it encourages vermin, but one encounter with this spikey fellow and that's where all our leftovers will be going. Allegedly. 

It is the first time I've seen a live hedgehog in decades. It didn't mind that Morgan was about 6 feet away, asleep, luckily.

Today I was eager to get onto a boat as I've already exhausted my planned Germinal CCXXIV places on St. Mary's Island. So we took a trip out to the rather over-manicured Island of Tresco as it takes you directly past stop #93

NUT ROCK

The boat was a bit crowded and I couldn't get a side seat which meant doing a quick strip off in front of more people than I'm used to. A man could get arrested. Anyway, nut rock is the dark spot directly above my shoulder and infrint of the central island in the picture. 

Why is it called Nut Rock? I have no idea, all I can tell you is it lies at 49°55'53" North 6°20'12" West, so now you have no excuse if your boat hits it.

Once on Tresco, we skirted around the posh Abbey Gardens (£18 a visit, ouch) which meant I didn't get a chance to revisit the "Valhalla Museum" (sad face) but I'm sure you will forgive me. I wanted to get right up to the top of the island but a rivet on Guy's sandal decided to break, and then while walking barefoot he stubbed his big toe on a rock tearing a hole in the end of that toe. There was no way he was going to be able to accompany me on a further 3 or so mile round trip so I steered us towards a café and plonked him down at a table saying I'd be back in time for lunch. I then yomped over the bay to get a more distanced picture than I would have wanted of stop #94

BEEF NECK

So the body of water that is Beef Neck (it separates  Northwethel and St.Helen islands) is in the distance but the next 2 pics should point it out and show my sight-line from where I was on Tresco.

 (Map courtesy of OS)

We missed our ferry back by a mere 90 seconds and had to wait an hour and 15 minutes for the next one so Guy decided to go for a dip off the quayside instead.

Met a lovely Dutch couple on our return trip who are staying in the same campsite as us, so hopefully will bump into them later. Ditto the hedgehog!

Fingers crossed that the weather is a little more settled tomorrow so we can venture a bit further out.

Allons-y 

Douglas Germinal CCXXIV Brain over and out 

Day 40 (29th July 2022)

 The last third of the Germinal CCXXIV road trip takes us (now that Guy & Morgan have joined me again) to stop #90

ISLES OF SCILLY

 In the background you can see St.Mary's Pool, the bay opposite Hugh Town, the main city of St.Mary's and the Isles of Scilly. It is a delightful place, and it is also where the band kicked off their first national tour in support of their debut album on the 2nd June 2003, playing at The Scillonian Club on St.Mary's Island. What a classy move.

We arrived at the Scilly Isles on the antiquated Scillonian III, a flat bottomed boat that has a reputation for bringing out sea-sickness in even the most hardy old sea dog. Today, however, the sea had barely a ripple on its surface which made standing up and taking a picture of another Germinal CCXXIV place easy peasy. Stop #91

WOLF ROCK

As is always the case when trying to photograph a distant feature on or off the coast, selfie mode makes it practically invisible. But trust me, it really is there, and it honestly does strike a commanding presence out in the Atlantic Ocean.

Named after the noise the howling winds make in a storm, Wolf Rock lighthouse was the first to be fitted with a helipad, probably because of its remoteness and difficulty in getting supplies in even a mild storm.

We made camp at The Garrison and set off pronto for a swim, via the Co-op for a picnic lunch.

On the way back, I had a fantastic view of stop #92

THE ROAD

When I first started working on this mad Sea Power inspired idea, there were quite a few places that at best perplexed me and at worst seemed impossible to work out. "The Road"? I mean, bloody hell, that could be anywhere! But on our first trip to the Scillies a few years ago, this particular dilemma was solved.

It is the stretch of water that separates St.Mary's from Tresco, one of the most common "highways" amongst these Isles, as Tresco is world famous for it's beautiful gardens and is extremely popular for day visits by tourists from Cornwall.

More island hopping and Germinal CCXXIV places tomorrow.

Allons-y 

Douglas Germinal CCXXIV Brain over and out 

Day 39 (28th July 2022)

 Today really was a "day off" insomuch as I have visited all the Germinal CCXXIV places in this end of Cornwall. Guy wasn't due to arrive till late afternoon, so I contacted a friend who I hadn't seen for at least 32 years on the off chance that she was free and wanted to meet up.

She said yes, so I drove into Central Cornwall and met up with Helen (who used to go by the nickname Hellun), her husband Kevin, dog Rosie and a flock of chickens and ducks and we had the most wonderful time catching up and hanging out.

Guy & Morgan arrived and we repacked loads of stuff into bags to lug to the next destination - but that's not being revealed until tomorrow. In the evening we met up with two of his old colleagues from the charity they all worked at and we ate, drank, reminisced and generally chew the fat. Time flew by, and I had to cut the party short as we still had a fair but of distance to cover to get to our digs for the night.

Big day tomorrow!

Allons-y 

Douglas Germinal CCXXIV Brain over and out 

Day 38 (27th July 2022)

 The sky was completely overcast first thing - it is the first thing I see every morning as I slide open the sunroof and look directly overhead at it. This means better weather for long cliff walks as long as it doesn't rain, of course.

First stop wasn't a cliff walk at all though, and it involved travelling back towards Land's End, stopping at the lovely seaside village of Sennen Cove, as when I was at St.Micheal's Mount yesterday, I saw the name on a very old map. Up until that moment, I assumed it would be found in the Isles of Scilly as when Guy and I were last there we heard a guide mention it when we were on a boat trip out to the western islands. The name of the place is stop #86

SHARK FIN

Trust me, it really is there to the right of Longships. Let me zoom in for you...

x2

x4

x8

x16

Cue the Jaws theme.

Next up was a trip back along the north coastal road for a now or never, third time lucky attempt to find the elusive stop #87

GREAT ZWAN

It was about a 45 minute walk from the old tin mine ruins near Porthmeor. Shortly after I commenced my hike, I managed to bang my head really quite hard on a branch of a tree as I was concentrating so hard on not twisting my ankle on the rocky path.

The old tin mines are wonderful and dotted all over western Cornwall. 

I'm assuming it is called "Great" Zwan because of the depth of the valley it forms - there are so many Zwans in western Cornwall and this one didn't seem that much more spectacular than many of the others I've seen. 

From the north coast to the southern most tip for stop #88

THE LIZARD

The sun was blazing down here. The Lizard is the most southerly mainland part of Britain, and as a result attracts a lot of day visitors, myself included. As a result, it must be a pretty rubbish place to live I reckon.

I didn't take the main road back as there was one more Germinal CCXXIV place to find, and it was a race against time and tide once again as come high tide, they are all but invisible. They are stop #89

THE MANACLES

So you can (hopefully) just about make out a couple of them to the left of the rocky outcrop by my head. Had I been here 6 hours previously there would have been a few more visible. 

They were just around the corner from Porthallow where I finally went for a swim. Cold but very refreshing. 

Guy and Morgan are joining me again tomorrow for the next adventure on Germinal CCXXIV. 

Allons-y 

Douglas Germinal CCXXIV Brain over and 

Day 37 (26th July 2022)

 Thought I'd get an early start as the weather forecast was somewhat favourable for the SW today. So after a cuppa and some fresh fruit, I drove down some really tiny roads to stop #82

POLOSTOC ZWAN

This is one of those bouldery headlands with huge rocks seemly frozen mid- avalanche. There are many of these around here, and one thing that surprises me is that the local yoot haven't tried to dislodge them and send them tumbling into the sea below.

My next Germinal CCXXIV place was a longer walk (in hindsight I probably should have done this one first) - stop #83

TATER DU

Now it might look like that stubby little lighthouse at the end of that track would have been easy to get to. However, it was an hours walk from this sign!

It really was a very challenging walk, and it had become both hot and incredibly still. The walk was beautiful though, so well worth the strain.

I rewarded myself with a pasty and a swim. Both were delicious. 

Quick stop in Mousehole because I discovered there is another place I was expecting to find in Devon with the same name .. does that even make sense? Anyway stop #84

SHAG ROCK

Not quite sure why I look cross, must be because I forgot my Penelope Isles cap. Shag rock is the smaller of the two, the bigger is St. Clement's Isle.

After all this effort, I treated myself to a touristy afternoon visit to St.Micheal's Mount, made even more fun as the tide was in so I got to have a boat ride as well. This is another place that has past me by every time I've visited Cornwall so it was great to finally make its acquaintance. 

Once it started to cool down, I headed back up to the north coast to find one of the places I missed yesterday. When I finally arrived, I was met with red tape and a warning sign. Despondent, I turned around, walked back to the Alphard and looked at the map to see if I could get there another way. As I was sitting there having a think, a few people had walked past me in that same direction so I decided to revive that rebellious spirit and headed back to the red tape separating me from stop #85

ZENNOR HEAD

This was the sign at the start of the pathway;

There had been a bush fire, but the tape looked like it had been there for days, and it had rained for the last two, so I thought "how bad could it be". My courage to break the rules was helped by a member of the Cornish Climbing Club who was going to climb down and back up again, and he said "climbers are always breaking rules".

The devastation was heart breaking to be honest.

I lingered in Zennor a bit longer than I should have, wandering around the churchyard at Zennor church (sadly locked so I couldn't see the mermaid pew carving). I realised I had realistically left it too late to gate to the one remaining Germinal CCXXIV place on the North Cornwall coast. I will be back tomorrow.

Having a pint in the garishly coloured The Gunard's Head (it is mango!) 

Allons-y 

Douglas Germinal CCXXIV Brain over and out 

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