John Burke's a-Musings: heather

Showing posts with label heather. Show all posts

Sunday, 7 December 2008

Ancient Newquay

Sunday 4 August 1996. I don't suppose many of Newquay's visitors go to soak up its prehistoric antiquities but there are some if you know where to look.

First though: breakfast! Is there anything better than breakfast in a holiday B+B? Fruit juice, cereals, a full English then toast and marmalade with coffee or tea and none of it requiring you to stand at a cooker... Afterwards there's just time for a group photo with Dad's Skoda then we are setting off to walk down the hill into Newquay.

High on the cliffs at the northern edge of the town is the Barrow Field where at one time 17 prehistoric barrows popped up over the landscape like zits on a teenager's chin. Most of them have disappeared, dug into and flattened or fallen into the sea as the coastal cliffs eroded. There are a couple left though to give Fran a chance of saying "But it's just a hill...!"

There is also a low earthwork wall that my niece Heather squealed with delight as she ran up it, then squealed with something else as she tripped and fell down the other side... She'll love being reminded of that... Still, the tears were soon dried and she went back for another run up and down... and then another... and then... and...

One of the saving graces of taking lots of photos during the years is that there are very few of me...! My God, did I really wear that??? Never mind... I'll leave that photo out!

The beaches at Newwquay tend to be at sea level. Which is only to be expected but slightly inconvenient as the path is quite a lot higher than sea level. There's a couple of such beaches to pass before we get down into the town centre. Unfortunately there's a few shops to get past too. It's our first day - can't this be done later in the week? Obviously not. It's dinner time by the time we get to the harbour...

Return to Cornwall 1996 Holiday Index

Thursday, 21 June 2007

Happy Birthday Mum

Mum had a birthday yesterday and the family all went out for a meal last night to celebrate.

We went out to the Miller's Arms at Singleton and it was an excellent meal. Mum had salmon with what she said was Hollandaise sauce. It looked a bit like custard to my mind, but tasted very nice with the salmon - I had to struggle to get both Mum and the custardy salmon in the shot but never mind. It also matched her dress - in that it didn't quite cover all the pink bits - dear me, Mother, pull yourself together...!

The rest of the family seemed to spend the night desperately looking the other way whenever I picked the camera up, although Heather had the grace to at least draw a substitute face with tomato sauce on a plate to hide behind...

For the rest of the family - this is how it's done! Fran and I at ease, posing happily, no shyness, trusting to the point of stupidity..

For those who thought they had got away with it... tough!