One of the best parts of summer in England is the light. During the middle of ‘summer time’ (daylight saving time in Australia) there’s still light in the sky until almost 11pm. It means you can pack a whole heap more into each day and in clear weather, the golden hour you experience in the last two hours of so before sunset can be utterly breathtaking.
After a particularly enjoyable day out during our Cornwall holiday back in August, Adam myself and my family got sidetracked on our trip back to our accommodation…
On a whim we drove into the town of Boscastle. It’s a pretty little stone village set in a deep valley, with the clear, cool River Valency running right through its centre.
If you follow the river along a pathway towards the coast you’ll find yourself in Boscastle Harbour, a National Trust site.
The tide was out, it was the end of a very warm day and although it was early evening there were still dozens of people out enjoying the water.
Adam, my brother and I had a great time scrambling across rocks and the harbour wall to explore little beaches, full of rocks, seaweed and caves.
We stopped in town for an ice-cream cone and sat on stone walls listening to a band playing at the local pub and a worker at a nearby fish and chip shop holler out order numbers.
On our way back to a main road, Adam spotted an old road sign reading ‘High Cliff’. He decided that sounded worthy of investigation and again we found ourselves making a diversion.
After following a narrow, winding road for a few miles, we arrived at a National Trust carpark, The Strangles, which is part of a walk along the north Cornish coast.
We set off and ended up on a very high cliff (accurate name!) overlooking the ocean, and The Strangles beach. Oh what a view!
The decision was made to stay up on the cliffs, rather than negotiate our way down the steep, rocky path to the beach. We all sat on a grassy knoll and just took in the wonderfully magnificent view before us. Being a resident of the east coast of Australia my entire life, I’d never seen a sunset over the ocean. It was something special.
A perfect end, to a pretty perfect day.
Wattle and Ash 