Coffin on the rocks

This is a companion blip to Guinea Pig Zero's - the same coastline but slightly further back west, just beyond Fishguard. The undulating cliff line merges into haze as clouds build in the sky behind us.

The spit of stone in the foreground here is called Carreg Coffin/Coffin Rock, named for the angular chunk that appears to be balanced at the tip. In the past there may have been bloodcurdling tales about its provenance but I've never heard any. Once there were boat trips across the harbour to view it - but perhaps that was just an excuse for a lark when excitement was not beamed into our homes at the click of a button.

However for me the petrified 'coffin' never fails to jog a memory of the opening of the novel Dracula where the Russian schooner, Demeter, founders in a storm just outside Whitby harbour. Crew have been mysteriously dying throughout the voyage; the cargo of coffins spills overboard and alongside, a huge black dog bounds ashore....

Whitby in North Yorkshire was a small port town much like Fishguard. The shipwreck story was based on fact. Not long before Bram Stoker visited the town in 1890 a ship called Demetrius came to grief on the rocks near the harbour. Its cargo of coffins tumbled into the sea. The locals revelled in telling yarns about the dead bodies that appeared on the town's beaches in various stages of decay for weeks after.

Beware the black dog!