Bit of a change of pace now, from the heat and colour of Thailand to the sunny yet blustery South coast for our annual Easter jaunt.
Stopping overnight in Plymouth to break up the long drive we were headed for Cornwall and the little fishing village of Mevagissey.
First up on routehowever – Rame Head to visit the volunteer’s in the National Coastwatch Institution lookout on the top of the headland.
These dedicated souls give up their free time to monitor and record the vessels going into Plymouth harbour and listen to the radio frequencies for boats in distress.
They asked if we were “from abroad” (ie England) as the Cornish consider themselves a breed apart from their Northerly counterparts. Incidently, a few days later, the Cornish were officially recognised as a national minority group. Next up passports to enter Kernow? . . .
The Rame headland has a prominent but lonely little chapel, dedicated to St Michael, accessible only by a steep footpath . . . and off we clamber.
St Michael’s chapel was first licensed for Mass in 1397 and is probably on the site of a much earlier, Celtic, hermitage.
It remains as an intact shell with intricately built stone walls shoring it up against the bracing weather.
Dartmoor ponies are dotted around the headland grazing in the sunshine.
They look very cute but the signs warn that they kick and bite! I don’t need telling twice but some people just have to get closer!
I sneak upto one of the deceptively placid little fluff balls to grab a snap before running away again.
The Rame headland is prominent to sailors and fishermen leaving Plymouth through Plymouth Sound.
Very often it’s the last piece of land they see when leaving England, and the first they see when returning home.
According to my favourite internet guru (Wikipedia) Rame Head appears in the sea shanty “Spanish Ladies”.
Spanish Ladies lyrics (in case you’re curious about ancient sea shanties!)
The first land we sighted was call-ed the Dodman,
Next Rame Head off Plymouth, Start, Portland and Wight;
We sailed by Beachy, by Fairlight and Dover, (or “Dungeness”)
And then we bore up for the South Foreland light.
Here’s a few more snaps of the tiny but speedy Dartmoor ponies as they chomp their way contently across the grass.
Next up is the tiny picturesque village Looe before our final destination – squashing four adults into a caravan outside of Mevagissey!