Well, another splendid day. Started off with great excitement as I put on something half sporty for the first time in far too long to take to the high seas with Boscastle & Crackington Gig Club! For years I've enviously watched crews rowing these gorgeous old pilot boats, and thought that's way cooler and more hardcore than anything you can do on a river. Beautiful sunny morning, no winds, seemed ideal for it. Sadly when I got there, the waves were still too rough to get out of Boscastle harbour safely, and this crew knows not to mess with nature - not only did they live through famous flooding and destruction several years ago (the club being founded in its aftermath as a brilliant way to help community rebuilding), they also capsized and badly damaged their boat earlier this year. Thankfully just managed to patch her up in time to take part in the rather more genteel jubilee pageant.. So, no outing this morn (and possibly not till Spring now, boohoo); but good to get to know members over a consolation breakfast in the harbour caf, and hear great tales of epic voyages and famous victories over south coast crews (despite their increased ability to get out and train!)
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| Dry verandah and trainers - not v representative of the farm! |
So, back to a Sunday community work day - ahem - morning. Marie and Ash making mountains of loaves; the rest of us moving chicken hutches and planning larger spaces for a brood, and tackling the big barn's accumulation of Stuff in preparation for the imminent move-in of the pigs for winter farrowing.
Hearty lunch prepared by James, and then some of us off on a jolly to Clovelly - how could we resist the strange pull of a Herring Festival up the coast?? I really like the fact that as a community we have a healthy mix of doing our own things, working and eating together often, and going out together sometimes - sharing cars and in this case 'looking after' poorly Clare's kids, Charlotte and Ollie. Anyway, enough words... Will let the photos do the talking.
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| In a landi taxi down to Clovelly - didn't really like the path being closed off; but hey, fun ride |
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| And there you are! Boat building & flax demos on the beach |
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| Photographer's heaven (I was thinking the place, rather than Olly neccessarily) |
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| Not a bad venue for your market stall.. |
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| Some genius magicians |
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| Lovin it |
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| Tall fisher folk round ere |
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| And this bloke |
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| What it's all about. Apparently the one place on this stretch they could build something like a habitable port village into the cliffs. Amazing results... |
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| Proper balconies |
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| Am sure there's a caption for this.. please feel free to suggest.. |
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| Ditto! |
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| Another amazing accident, unfortunately Mr Dogfish not as alive as Clovelly |
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| Or maybe tossed overboard? |
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| Caption?? |
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| Sea Shanties |
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| 'Kipperman' and his acclaimed History of the Herring |
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| Not a bad front door.. |
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| ..or view |
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| Hand drawn cart still only way of transport for most of the bottom bit of the village... |
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| ..and foot and sacks for the upper parts... |
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| ..and the ubiquitous hand drawn sledges!! |
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| Old Sea Dog in the New Inn and His Amazing Dog Fish Egg |
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| ..considering whether he should dissect or try to hatch it |
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| Looking at photos of the waterfall idiots |
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| And an underage conga eel we managed to sneak into the pub.. Taking a cheeky peek out of his sack |
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| And back home, a new challenge for masterchef |
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| Sorry to any veggies/vegans out there. But at least this unintentional catch was sold on a herring stall. And we got all our £7's worth! |
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| And the rather delicious and tender reason for the season |
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| Alongside some of our bakers' produce from the morn.. Hungry? |
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