Why Rugged Coastlines Attract So Many Walkers - Some from as Far Away as Australia

And the beauty of our island shoreline which moved me to pen a poem

Hello and welcome.

I hope you are all keeping well and if you live in the Northern Hemisphere as I do, you will have noticed a sharp drop in temperature, with that beautiful, crisp autumnal feel which I wrote about last week here. The nights are drawing in with curtains being drawn some evenings as early as 18:00 hours. But other days see temperatures of 20 degrees and beautiful bright sunshine so it’s very confusing for us but also for the flora and fauna.

I am currently taking a break in Cornwall which has the most spectacular coastal scenery I think I have ever seen. I always feel calm when I visit here and today my husband and I walked the National Trust coastal path from Port Quinn to Port Isaac. Doc Martin is filmed here and I took some lovely photos of some of the landmarks made famous by this medical comedy-drama.

The walk was more challenging than either of us expected with a ton of steps up and down and it took two hours at a steady pace to complete the 3-mile hike, but the views were spectacular and the scenery was well worth all the effort.

We were rewarded with lunch at The Slipway Pub followed by a Cornish clotted cream flavoured ice-cream cone while we wandered through the narrow streets, (such a British thing to do!) soaking up the vibes of this genteel seaside town, which has not only been thrust into the spotlight by Doc Martin’s presence for filming the many series of the TV programme here, but it is also famous for being the home of The Fisherman’s Friends shanty singers.

We must have met dozens of walkers along the way, some coming against us, others behind us following along at our pace. Always respectful, we moved to one side to let people pass or they let us through because in places it was very precarious. If you missed your footing, you could easily have come a cropper on the outcrop of rocks (see the photo above). We stopped and chatted with some and then bumped into an Australian couple in Port Isaac with whom we had had a brief exchange up on the clifftops, and it was wonderful to hear that they had come to the UK especially to see our spectacular coastlines and had plotted their route from Cornwall, through the Cotswolds, taking in the Lake District and then finishing up in the wilds of Scotland.

We feel incredibly fortunate to live in such a beautiful country and even luckier to be able to drive here in a few hours. We put our golf clubs in the back of the car and have a round booked at The Point and another at Tehidy Park Golf Club. My husband plans a day at the beach body boarding and doubtless, we will return home tired, fulfilled, and content. The signs of a relaxing break.

One of my favourite pastimes while I am here, as well as walking and golfing, is, of course, writing. The words flow and the spectacular scenery moves me almost to tears sometimes. Here is a poem I wrote when we returned from our walk today.

Where No Feet Have Trodden

Silky seas nip at rock face bases rising steeply
Narrow muddy paths snake around headlands
Velvety smooth bright blues and hues
Of green, yellow and russet splatter
The landscape, like an artist’s palette

Rugged grey slated stiles rear up
Challenging walkers striding forth
All stop and stare lost in wonder
Moments of awe at the calamitous beauty
Spread all around us like an artist’s canvas

Magical moments as deep in thought we watch where land
Meets the sea; back-dropped against a satin smooth blue sky
Breathtaking; powerful, remote and raw
Craggy outcrops sculpted from
Centuries of weather-beaten buffeting

Majestic and mighty the coastline is contoured
By Mother Nature’s attentive hand day in, day out
Ferocious waves crash but then gently recede
Contouring rocks into glass-smooth pebbles clacking
On golden sandy bedded beach cove arenas

Where no feet have trodden. The canvas constantly changing.

If you look carefully, you can see the narrow muddy path snaking around the headland in the distance. It really was an amazing experience to have walked this coastal walk.

Here is Doc Martin’s ‘surgery’, otherwise known as Fern Cottage.

And here is the beautiful village of Port Isaac just coming into view as we near the end of our coastal walk.

Don’t forget that you can buy my books, both collections of short stories with poetry, from Amazon. They would make excellent Christmas gifts!

You can buy it here.

And you can buy this one here.

My two children’s books and cosy crime novel, The Mysterious Disappearance of Marsha Boden will be available to buy in March 2024. I will keep you updated.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post and if you liked it, please share it.

Take care,

Rosy.