coastal walks

the title of this post might be a bit misleading and somewhat of an exaggeration. as you can imagine coastal walking with a five-year old is over pretty quickly after it has started, especially when it’s hugely windy, and that wind is cold, so very very cold. but today we gave it a good go though.

first of all we headed over to the fishing village boscastle. the town that just a touch less than 10 years ago was hit by one of worst flash floods the cornish coast had ever seen. the small village acquired its name from  botreaux castle, a 12th century fort which only a few remains are still visible. the harbour of boscastle is the only significant one for at least 20 miles along the cornish coast and used to function as a port. as well as being a fishing harbour, it is also used for importing limestone and coal and for exporting slate.

the river valency – boscastle

boscastle and the river valency

fishing boat in boscastle harbour

layers upon layers of slatelayers of slatethe sea at boscastledried thistle              dried alliumcan you see the green marker with the green arrow pointing at it? yes? well that is how high the water levels rose in the flood of 2004. shocking isn’t it.flood line boscastle 2004

oh no not mummy taking another photo, quick run!

running away from mummy in boscastle

ha ha cheeky fellas, caught up with them by the pasty shop!

hadn’t quite had our fill for the day so we hopped in the car and headed down the road a little way to tintagel, the birth place (allegedly) of king arthur son of uther pendragon. the castle is today, stands only as ruins.

but before we got anywhere close to the castle ruins we came across a 14th century medieval post office. unfortunately it was closed so we couldn’t explore inside.

tintagel post office

medieval wallthe ruins of the castle are a little further down the road, along the coastal path. set across the headland and an island the history of castle in steeped legend and mystery.

tintagel parish church

tintagel parish church

the castle ruins seen from the headlandruins of tintagel castleyou can walk over to explore but you have to go down these stairs first! with a head that’s not good with heights and a 5-year-old in tow, we gave this a wide berth and headed back to the car!stairs to the castle

 

Comments

    • January 2, 2014 / 19:16

      Well let’s cross everything that 2014 will make those dreams come true x

    • January 2, 2014 / 19:33

      There were stairs but only just! Medieval ones at jaunty angles are a definite no no fir me! Happy new year x

  1. January 3, 2014 / 09:49

    Beautiful, reminds me of the Antrim Coast in Northern Ireland, we live close to it but rarely visit due to weather conditions as well 🙂
    #PoCoLo

    • January 3, 2014 / 19:45

      i’d really love to go to the coast of northern ireland been east and west but never north or south. that’s that on the list for the summer then!

  2. January 3, 2014 / 09:59

    Beautiful pictures. A geographer’s dream.

    I can’t wait for N’s legs to be stronger and longer so we can walk up and down exciting steps like that. He wants to go wherever he sees things like this but I’d end up having to try and carry him so we’ll have to wait a while longer.

    • January 3, 2014 / 20:00

      ronnie is getting there, still not long walks though, soon though SOON!!

  3. January 8, 2014 / 12:04

    Beautiful, beautiful place 🙂 I would love to get there one day. I know my sister has been but these photos have inspired me even more. I hadn’t realised your silent sunday pic was related to this 🙂 Thank you so much for linking to PoCoLo x

    • January 10, 2014 / 21:44

      gorgeous isn’t it? i had a look at some house prices whilst we were there… maybe??

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