Wild Blows the Wind

Today as we picked up S we gave him the choice of woods, water or high places. He chose high places and I started to give F directions. It wasn't long before he knew exactly where we were going. Just along the cliffs from Porthleven there is a little car park on a piece of ground which looks like it was quarried from the cliff face. There is just enough room between the rock and the drop to park cars with room to pass.

We ate our picnic in the car and sat and stared in amazement at the waves. As we do not live right by the sea we often miss the biggest waves. Today we had chosen the right place to find them. The wind had blown the waves hard across the sea until they reached land right here at our feet. The very strong winds were blowing directly onto the land. From the cliff where we were, the waves still looked huge and must have been well over 15 feet, before they fell over and sent spray shooting up.

From the car park is a little footpath that goes zig zagging up the cliff and then along. We walked a little way but the weather really was strong. We were all cold and S was finding the wind pretty daunting. The spray was such that my glasses were blurry and our clothes were damp.















I have realised that if I want to be outdoors more, I will need some much better clothing to do it for next year... My trousers always shrink after a few washes and start climbing up my legs so that there is a gap. I tend to fill this with long boots but these are impractical for outdoors! My lovely jumper type coat is very warm but not water proof and the hood is too large to stay up in the wind.

We meandered our way home in the car. Cornwall has a network of fairly decent main roads that get you to and from most places but in between there is a network of tiny roads. Often only one car wide with occasional passing places. Tall hedges sit on each side. Cornish hedges are made of two granite walls with soil in the middle. Plants grow out between the stones and trees establish themselves on top. On some roads in the summer it is like driving through a green cave.

On the higher open places you can look across and the land seems made up of granite and moor and grey but as you drop into little valleys there is another world of woods and streams. The road took us through a tiny hamlet on the side of a wooded hill. There was an old granite building which looked like a schoolhouse with boarded up windows. Below it the hill dropped away across a green field edged in trees. How I would love somewhere like that...

When we got home I finally realised how cold I truly was. I felt pretty awful and it took quite a while for me to warm up. I can't imagine my ancestors wearing such ill fitting clothing. They would have tied extra furs around any bits likely to get cold.

I don't want to go back to work tomorrow. It is going to be a busy week leading up to the end of the month. I also don't want tomorrow to come as it is tomorrow I have to visit the dietician and be weighed. The first time I have been weighed in three months. I have no idea if I have lost anything or not.

Today has been an odd mixture of dreaming and practicalities. Sometimes I have trouble with the practicalities....