'O the opal and the sapphire of that wandering western sea...' *

Have been in Cornwall, by the sea - which was magical. Normal service will be resumed soon: in the meantime, let's go down to the beach...

This is just north of Padstow. Very delicious pasties were eaten, from Chough's Bakery.

This tower, Stepper Point, was built as a 'day mark', to guide navigators. On the other side of the Camel Estuary you can just see Polzeath and the nearby cliffs, where the next few pictures were taken.

Polzeath. The sky had just cleared after rain, and the colours glowed.

 This headland looked just like a dragon, with its head resting in the sea, and spines jutting up from its neck.

In the distance, in the picture above, is Tintagel, where Uther Pendragon used trickery and Merlin's magic to sleep with Igraine, Queen of Cornwall. The subsequent child became King Arthur. It's easy to believe in magic in a place like this.

Patterns in the sand. I'm tempted to say the sands of time, but I think that might be a bit over the top.

* This is from Beeny Cliff, by Thomas Hardy. He met his first wife, Emma Gifford, in Cornwall, and wrote beautiful poems about her and about this landscape years later after she died, in an outpouring of regret and remorse because he hadn't been nicer to her in their later years. I wish they'd been happier - but it would be very sad not to have the poems.