On the rocks in stormy Cornwall?
Come to St Agnes, they said, it will be fun, they said. So we set out - avoiding Storm Ingrid on Thursday and Storm Chandra today. At one point on Bodmin Moor our car sensors alerted that they had insufficient light conditions to continue functioning. Abort mission, return to Hampshire. Undaunted we pushed on and pulled up at our destination - Driftwood Spars- in torrents of driving rain. The hotel was caught between this deluge and a growling ocean. It prowled around the granite harbour and thundered against the rocks and tiny dwellings that perched on the shore line.
So glad you made it, they said, let’s go for a walk they said. (!) (?) So stunned by the long drive, we agreed and set off around the headland where the rock steps had transformed into conveniently segmented waterfalls. Only five minutes back to our place, they said, this is the scenic route.
Indeed, yes indeedy. When we arrived at their place 45 minutes later, I did not want tea. I wanted a laundrette where I could strip and put every item of clothing I had into a tumble dryer. Still - after tea - we squelched back to Driftwood Spars to be told our room was just across the road, opposite the car park. It was, I swear, actually hailing at this point.
But truth be told my fellow inhabitants of Enchanted England - I was already under a Cornish Spell. To encounter a landscape at 3 in the afternoon where all the light had gone was enchanting; as though we had been plunged into a black and white movie. Everything was reduced to spare lines, sharp edges picked out in monochromes. The darkening cloud shadows flowed across the Trevaunance sands, rippling like fleeting eels. The waves pounded onto the shore - each with a silvery edge to the dark waters. The trees sighed in the wind and bent black arms over the landscape.
A young woman walked up from the sea-edge - Powerful Energy today - she said and in a stroke, transformed my understanding of the place.
Let’s pick up the energy and run with it.
Fabulous. Simply glorious. Can’t wait to go back.