Well Laid Plans!

My plans for today had been changed many times in the preceding week – originally I was supposed to be caravanning with other friends at Perranporthfor the weekend.. I had been looking forward to it and it had been arranged many months ago and all paid for. The closer it got the more ambivalent about it I felt. The only thing that was tempting me was the fact it was by Wheal Coates which I wanted to see and photograph! Bizarrely I had not heard of the place until blipper Ellaphant sent me a link to a photo of it and asked if I knew where it was. I google searched it and found it was just 6 miles down the coast from the caravan site!  Friend wanted to go down for the roast lunch on the beach on the Sunday so finally I decided to just do that.  When in the Scilly Isles she realized she had relatives coming down so that trip cancelled too! Then Colourful Mai asked what time we were leaving – I’d forgotten she’d asked to come with us! So trip back on! Wheal Coates and then meet up with the others for lunch! 
Wheal Coates is a tin mine that opened in 1802 and was worked until 1889. The Towanroath Shaft engine house was responsible for keeping the water out of the shaft 600 feet below. The other two engine houses were stamping and winding (whim) engine houses, built at around the same time. These were responsible for hoisting and crushing the tin ore. Oh and it’s been used as a location in the current series of Poldark of course! But I remember watching the series as a child and was not interested in the new version – and rumors abound down here that Aiden is not a very nice man!
 Well the weather was perfect and Wheal Coates was just so striking –  the beach below stretched for miles and the sea was a glorious blue, along with low growing pink heather and yellow gorse. It was an easy walk and as we rounded the corner of the path the engine house came into view – so exciting! I took far too many photographs and was only restrained because Mai was with me and we had a lunch date!
We met the others at The Wateringhole on the beach – it had an Australian feel about it and was packed! There was a complex queuing system which meant you paid in one place and then queued again for the food! But our group had sussed you could pay at the bar and go straight for the food queue! The caravan group arrived in dribs and drabs over the next 2 hours I was met by my two favourite dogs -Kes and Tammi, and fed them some roast potatoes! Mai and I then wandered down to the sea which is why you have this blip! I was so sure up until this point it was going to be a blip of the engine house! Ah well! It can be seen here at least and more of Perranporth sands here!