Camping in Cornwall

We wandered down to St. Ives in Cornwall hoping for a week of sun and sea and sand. We got gales and rain and mud. We camped for the week at a farm campsite up the hill from St. Ives, over-looking the sea. It was a lovely, if exposed, spot.

Our 4-man tent just about kept us dry and stayed connected to the ground on the first night, but we reckoned it would not survive the week so the next morning we zipped into Truro and purchased a brand new, hurricane-proof, 6-man tent, which did the job brilliantly.

Despite the windy, cool and sometimes damp weather we had a great week. We saw Newlyn, Marazion, St. Micheal's Mount, Lamorna (great pub; The Lamorna Wink), Mousehole, Zennon, Porthtowan, Falmouth. We cycled the narrow lanes around the campsite. We went for walks along the cliffs, and up the hills among the mine shafts. We had a few trips to the beaches in St. Ives, but weren't brave enough to face the chilly Atlantic.

On our cliff-top walk by the campsite

Digging for shelter on Porthtowan beach

Wandering through the cobbled streets of St. Ives

Porthmeor beach

On the pier at St. Ives

Oisin pointing out some lichens on a boulder at Lamorna

The boys at St. Michaels Mount

St. Ives harbour

Dorset Knob Throwing

Last Sunday we ignored the damp weather and headed up the Frome valley to the village of Cattistock to participate in the annual Dorset Knob Throwing contest.

We wandered around the food stalls tasting some local pickles, chutneys, cheeses and ice cream. We had some Somerset cider to steady the nerves before entering the Knob Throwing Arena. The leading throw at that stage was 20.2 m and after myself, Fiachra and Oisín had cast our crispy knobs of bread dough, the leading throw was still 20.2 m. Oisin did manage to get all three of his knobs to land together in a straight line, while only one of my throws even landed within the grid. Fiachra's best throw was a Herculean 7 m.
Ah well it's the taking part....


Outside the village pub we watched an energetic display of Morris dancing before heading for home to start practicing for next year's contest.

Springtime Wedding

As the daffodils bloomed and the days lengthened and birds were busy building their nests, the Harris-Murphy family headed back to Ireland for the wedding of Auntie Lucie to Kieran. We crossed the Irish Sea just before a storm hit and made our way to Granny and Grandad in Lismore. Following a few days of pre-wedding arrangments and tension-building the big day arrived. Lucie's nephews were all dressed in their finery for the occasion.

For copyright reasons (exclusive rights are with 'Hello') I am not allowed to publish any photos of the wedding but I did manage to sneak a micro-camera in past the Tongan security guard and snap this grainy picture of the couple during the ceremony.

Afterwards it was across the wild hills of west Waterford/east Cork to Barnabrow House for the reception. A delicious meal was served in beautiful surroundings and a great day was had by all. I don't have too many snaps of the night as I was either chasing after the boys or dancing and to be honest it was Fiachra who had the camera most of the time.

The bride and groom, with the bride's father, relaxing before dinner.

John with his arm around Rebecca, the beautiful Maid of Honour.

Uncle John and John as seen from a 4-year old's perspective.

Daniel just after he finished his ice-cream desert.

The two boys enjoying the party.

We headed to Cork & Kerry for a few days afterwards to say hello to all there, including our new cousin/nephew Ryan, before getting back on the boat for home.

Mid-winter storms and sunshine

There have been plenty of storms blowing past over the past few weeks and we have gone down to Chesil a few times to watch the waves crashing onto the beach there. One weekend we tried to get onto Chesil Beach but were beaten back by the stinging rain, wind and spray. We then went over to Chesil Cove and by then the sun had come out and we got a great view of waves as big as houses pounding the beach. It was really spectacular.



It was Oisín's 2nd birthday recently. We went for a walk with some friends up onto Maiden Castle to fly our kites and have a quick picnic but it was so windy and cold that we were forced back down to the cars. So we headed for home and lunch by the warm fire instead. Then the cake emerged and Oisín did a great job of blowing out the candles.


The following weekend we went took the bikes on the train to Wareham and cycled from there into Wareham Forest. Fiachra was cycling his own bike so we stayed off busy roads, but we seemed to hit every muddy track in Purbeck and by the time we actually reached the forest we were destroyed and our will was nearly broken. But after some lunch and some stunt cycling our spirits picked up and we had a great ride.

Christmas

We had a fine Christmas at home this year. Rebecca's parents and sister visited for a week either side of Christmas Day. On Christmas Eve while we were all asleep Santa Claus delivered some presents, decorated the house and tree and helped himself to some mince pie and milk. Rudolph had some parsnip. The boys were overwhelmed with gifts the next morning and were a bit dazed by it all by lunchtime. A superb Christmas dinner was served up by Rebecca, her mum and sister.

To work it off, on St. Stephen's Day we went for a walk along the coast between Durdle Door and Ringstead.

We stumbled upon a Slow Worm or Adder during the walk (not sure which).


On the Saturday before New Years our visitors left for home. Afterwards myself and the boys went on a muddy forest adventure. We built a den, fried up some breakfast over our campfire, did a bit of climbing, hide & seek and made a swing from a tree.