Monday 17 August 1992. We had been down and up the old tin mine at Wendron Forge near Helston (where they do the Furry Dance every 8th of May) and decided to visit Penzance where we spotted the island of St Michael's Mount just off the coast at Marazion.
"Oh we'll have a go at that" the family decide, leaving me wondering if I can hobble that far... This is a day long remembered in the Burke family, for reasons that will become apparent later!
Now someone (I forget who - but not me!) had said the beach had the sort of stones that crystals or fossils could be found in. Frank had actually brought a chisel along to split the rocks but didn't have a hammer so we used another stone. We didn't find any crystals or fossils and strangely it always seemed to be the stone we were using as the hammer that split in two... I remained somwhat aloof from all this as bending over to pick up rocks when you are on crutches is not easy...
Mum baulks at a minor puddle whilst Frank and Gill ford a major river and I wonder how I'm going to get all the gritty bits of sand out of my bandaged foot...
We walk over the causeway to St Michael's Mount. "What time does the tide come in?" I wonder. "Oh it was 9 o'clock last night!" said Mum. Yes - but that was the north coast and we are now on the south and it's already halfways through the afternoon.
We got to the island and went to have a look round a gift shop. This seemed to take an amazing amount of time. We weren't going to be climbing up to the top of the hill, that's for sure!
But we came out eventually and looked back at the harbour and causeway. I checked my watch... No... still not 9 o'clock... The only photo I had time to take on St Michael's Mount before: "Oh my God! The tide!" Some of the group were still in the gift shop and took some convincing that we needed to come out and scarper.
It wasn't too bad when we first set off back but I was soon at the back of the family group, soaked foot and bandage and hoping all the grains of sand would be washed out...
The walk back... The marks on my trousers show how deep it got whilst we were walking over. WIth a bandaged foot I was unable to walk barefoot and for an hour after we got back to dry land I squelched horribly...
Halfway back and therefore at the deepest point, some idiot on a quad bike roared past everyone, going far too fast and the bike was throwing up quite a wave to soak everyone. Frank dragged his foot sideways sending a shower of seawater all over him, gaining a round of applasue and shouts of support from other waders. Half an hour later we watched a boat turn back two people who were holding their belongings over their heads whilst the water reached their chins.
We found a chippy for tea which had a "dining room at the back". This turned out to be a shed with a shelf and some bar stools. We were all a bit unimpressed with the food and when I bit into a pie and found it all black inside, we complained and left. We ended up at Penzance instead where we kept the cafe owner and other customers egging us on to tell them more about our day's adventures...
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