Picklecombe Fort, Kingsand and Cawsand

An account of a visit to the villages of Kingsand and Cawsand.

INTRODUCTION

The feature of yesterday was a walk along the coast from Fort Picklecombe to the villages of Kingsand and Cawsand, and then back. I have many photos from yesterday, and will be sharing the general ones here. I have a fairly sizeable collection of pictures of boats and ships already, and I will be doing a special post about these immediately I have completed this one.

FORT PICKLECOMBE TO THE VILLAGES

In olden times the two villages in this post were on opposite sides of the Devon/ Cornwall boundary – Kingsand in Devon and Cawsand in Cornwall, but nowadays both are comfortably within Cornwall, since the county boundary is the Tamar River. This part of Cornwall, known as the Rame Peninsula has its own official website. The coast path which we followed on our way to the villages is good although a little sticky in places (prolonged heavy rain would undoubtably turn it into a quagmire). Here are some photos from this section of the journey:

leaving the fortAbove the fortDanger signGatemini lighthousesignLighthousetreesTreeruined buildingFlying corvidBreakwaterPathSea viewLeafbirdsMagpiebig house overlooking Kingsandbig snailMt EdgecumbSnail

KINGSAND AND CAWSAND

We visited the Post Office, where my parents had some stuff to post and something to collect, and then walked down to the sea front by way of a road that was unsuitable for motor vehicles. Here are some pictures from Kingsand and Cawsand…

Kingsand and CawsandApproaching KIngsandApproaching Kingsand IIKingsand and Cawsand mapRising SunAmherst BatteryHalfway House InnHalfay House Inn cannonCawsand

Welcome to Cawsand Bay
Note the website bottom right as you look: http://www.ramepbc.org/

Cormorant PanelSSIsProtect the BaySeals and Dolphin

At this point we paid a visit to…

THE DEVONPORT INN

This establishment ticked one box instantly – investigation of the bar revealed the presence of locally brewed cask ale. They had three of the Dartmoor Brewery’s products available, and as someone who is a dedicated Holmesian as well as a fan of locally brewed ales I opted for “Legend”, with its connection to “The Hound of the Baskervilles”. This proved to be a very good choice – it was an excellent drink. As well as the website, which I linked to in the heading of this section they have a twitter account, @devonport_inn. Here are some pictures taken while enjoying my pint…

Fire, the Devonport pubDecorations, the DevonportThe local productA pint of LegendLegend logoLanternWall photo, the DevonportDevonport PR

THE WALK BACK

We started out along the sea front. My mother abandoned this route quite earlu, but my father and I continued along the sea front rather longer (in retrospect this was an over adventurous decision given some of the terrain we had to contend with). By the time we saw a wooden staircase leading up to a campsite near the fort we were glad of a definite way back to the official route. I conclude this post with some photos from the walk back…

Distant view of the fortDistant view of the fort IILighthouse close-upShellsBy the seasideInletruinruined wallInlet IIRed rockShellGullRed rock IIrock formationCarapace fragmentrockspawprints

Claw
I was intrigued by this claw, but in accordance with Sutcliffe’s Rule for enjoying nature and enabling others to do so (take nothing except photographs, leave nothing except footprints), I left it in place for others to see if they happened to go that way.

Herring GullFishing basketsEx-tree

Kernow!

Setting the scene for my Cornish holiday.

INTRODUCTION

To explain the title of this post, Kernow is the Cornish name for Cornwall, and that is where I am at the moment, staying for a few days in my parents new home. Here is a map to start things off:

Kernow map

My parents new place is near Kingsand, towards the bottom centre of the map. 

In this post I will tell you about the stage I left the November auction in, describe my journey down from King’s Lynn and finish with a few pictures from the new house.

JAMES & SONS NOVEMBER CATALOGUE

I had booked Thursday and Friday as leave, and in order to be as up to date as possible before going on leave I agreed to work Monday as well as Tuesday. By the end of Tuesday the imaging was as complete as possible, and I had given my colleague Andrew a start towards the printed catalogue, with a front cover image selected and placed appropriately on the page and the back cover completed. I offer links to the files and also screenshots:

CatalogueCatalogue – coin book versionBC screenshotFC screenshotFC Screenshot 2

Why two versions of the front cover? Well my employer did not like my initial choice of front cover image, requesting the coin book in its place, and being me I kept both versions.

KING’S LYNN TO CORNWALL

The first part of my journey was on the 9:54 train from King’s Lynn to London, which mirabile dictu ran to time. As far as Cambridge I had the company of Jo Rust, Labour candidate at the last two general elections in my constituency. Ely Cathedral was, as often, a target for my photographic attentions:

Ely Cathedral 2Ely Cathedral

On arrival at King’s Cross I headed down to the Circle/ Hammersmith & City/ Metropolitan lines to get a train across to Paddington. The first train was heading for Uxbridge, therefore not one for me to take, but the second was bound for Hammersmith, and hence going by way of the right Paddington, the one that is structurally part of the mainline station, as opposed to the Circle/ District line station that should revert to it’s original name of Praed Street. 

Giant Roundel, Kings CrossVic, Met, H&C, CN&PAll KC linesLU mapWestbound, KCPlatform roundel, KCUxbridge departureDistrict lineMapsH&CPaddington

Paddington H&C
Looking across Paddington from the H&C platforms (these are platforms 15 and 16 of the main station).

Paddington all lines

Having a had a decent but not stellar connection at King’s Cross I arrived at Paddington with just under an hour to go before my train for the long-haul section of the journey was due to depart. Although careful to stay close to the information screens that I would not miss the platform number for my train when it came up I did get some photos while I waited for this information.

Paddington InfoSnack Van, PaddingtonPlansStation plan, paddingtonPaddington arched roof 1Paddington, Heathrow ExpressPaddington clockPaddington latticeworkHeathrow Expressironwork, PaddingtonDetail, Paddington

I did not get as many pictures as I would have liked during the train journey to Plymouth, as my camera’s battery ran out of charge just beyond Exeter (so no pics from Newton Abbot, Totnes or the approach to Plymouth). The train arrived in Plymouth exactly on schedule, making it a jackpot-like two train journeys in Britain on one day that had run to time!

Reading
The first stop out of Paddington – from here there was a long fast run to Taunton, then Tiverton Parkway, Exeter St Davids, Newton Abbot, Totnes and Plymouth.
Doom Bar
Some Cornish refreshment from the on-train bar, although at prices that would have made the proprietor of a plush central London pub blush (£4.50 for a half-litre bottle!)

Tiverton Parkway 2Exeter St Davids

Sea View from Train
A first glimpse of the sea on this journey.

Picklecombe Fort, wherein my parents have their new apartment is about 2.5 miles from Plymouth as the crow flies, but the road journey is so roundabout that this portion of the journey took almost the same amount of time as King’s Lynn – London had at the start of the day!

THE FIRST CORNISH PICTURES

This morning, with my camera battery fully charged I took some pictures here at Picklecombe Fort.

En suite
The guest bedroom has an ensuite bathroom cunningly disguised as a set of cupboards.
light fitting
Mean spiritedness from the previous owners.
Book display
My parents library.
View from bedroom window
Three views from my bedroom window…

View from bedroom window 2View from bedroom window 3

View from balcony
The rest of these pictures were taken from the balcony, and show the apartment’s #1 selling point – the sea views.

Lighthouse and boatsLighthouse closer focusHarbourAcross the waterboatsBig ship

Lighthouse special
The third picture I took featuring the lighthouse.

 

International Charter of Autists Rights & THE 10 POINTS OF Âû (The Autistic Union)

This is a must read document, courtesy of Eve Reiland (nee Hinson) at americanbadassactivists

International Badass Activists

Note: The International Charter of Autists Rights has been officially adopted at AmericanBadassActivists.org. Please support, share and help educate others on Autists Rights.


THE 10 POINTS OF Âû (The Autistic Union)

  1. I am Autistic. [or] I support those who are Autistic.
  2. I embrace my Autism as a very significant part of my identity.
  3. I embrace those who would sacrifice to protect all Autistic life.
  4. I embrace the belief that Autism does not need any “curing”.
  5. I embrace the self-advocacy goal of “Everything about us, with us”.
  6. I embrace the definition of Autism as a neuro-social difference.
  7. I embrace measures directed at protecting Autistics from attack.
  8. I embrace a person-centred approach to all Autism issues.
  9. I embrace rigorous scientific approaches to co-occurring conditions.
  10. I embrace Autistics leading their own welfare organisations.

1. THE RIGHT TO LIFE 

We will prevent eugenic elimination of autistic people by opposing pre-natal testing for autism.

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Pictures From The Last Few Days

Pictures from the last few days.

INTRODUCTION

It has been three days since I last posted here, and five since I created anything new here. Just to keep things going here are some pictures that I have taken during that period.

WORK PICTURES

The pictures I have from work that I consider worth sharing come in two sections. First…

FRONTISPIECES AND TITLE PAGES

We have some very old books going under the hammer in our auction at the end of November, and our printed catalogue will feature a page of some the finest frontispices and title pages, so here is a sneak preview:

601602603604605606607608609610611612613614615616617618619624625626627628-a675676677678679680681682683684685686687688689620621622623671672673674

My second set of work related pictures are of stamps, which were done yesterday using the scanner (400dpi, full platen being the setting used).

95103104105106107112114115127141156163164166168169169-a170171172175186194195

HALF MOON

These are from a week ago – the moon in question was in a twilight sky.

Half Moon 5Half Moon 4Half moon 2Half moon 1

Squirrels

A final few pictures…

P1070167

Squirrel
It is not always possible to get a close-up of a squirrel in focus – one has to take the picture quickly!

2 for 1 on squirrelsSquirrel

 

45 Theses on taxation and related issues: my homage to Martin Luther

An appropriate tribute to Martin Luther on the 500th anniversary of the nailing of the theses to Wittenburg church, courtesy of Richard Murphy of Tax Research UK. Below the link I offer you numbers 28-30 inclusive as a preview:

Source: 45 Theses on taxation and related issues: my homage to Martin Luther

  • The physical resources of the planet are finite.
  • The second law of thermodynamics holds true.
  •  The use of the minimum possible energy in the process of meeting human need is, therefore, a necessity and not a choice.