Thursday 23 September 2010

Cornish Holiday September 2010

Just back from a holiday in Cornwall and thought I'd better blog about it before it becomes ancient history, like the Carn Euny fogou near St Just!

On the way down, we stopped for lunch near the Cobb at Lyme Regis in Dorset, and I managed to get this photo of the Georgian cottages on the promenade just before the rain came down.

Fortunately the weather had improved by the time we visited Lamorran Garden the following day. It's located above St Mawes, and is the most lovely I've visited in Cornwall. It's all terraces and winding paths, and grottos with ponds and statuary. The photo I've chosen to post is of a waterfall. Aren't those reflections just fantastic?


Last year in Cornwall I drove the rugged coast from St Ives to St Just without seeing a blasted thing because the mist was so heavy. This time the weather was more than kind - it was glorious. This is the coastline looking north from Pendeen Lighthouse towards Zennor.

The St Just area was tin mining country and it is dotted with derelict buildings and old chimneys. Copper and tin have been mined here for thousands of years, since long before the Romans came. The focus at the Levant Mine were the rugged coastal inlets called zawns, where ore could be seen in the rock at the surface. The mining evventually followed the seams miles under the sea. One of the zawns is shown below.

This is an ancient landscape with neolithic and Iron Age sites. Two stone villages have survived - Chysauster and Carn Euny. At its heart, the latter has a partly buried circular stone chamber and passageway called a fogou. The passageway is pictured below.

I was staying in Porthleven so perhaps I should finish with a couple of photos from there. Here's one of fishing boats in the inner harbour.

And I can't miss out this sunset. It was taken from the Atlantic Inn. The view is over Porthleven Harbour towards Penzance and Newlyn.

If you look more closely you'll see people walking out along the breakwater.

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