Lantic Bay

I know this image looks like it has been photoshopped but for once I just happened to catch a moment when the sky was bright and clear after a shower and the evening sun emerged from cloud, lighting up the bracken.
We had a slow start to the day as we were a bit tired from yesterday’s walk to Polruan. There were also various odds and ends to sort out as Hanne Lene has had various tedious wranglings with a credit card company that has made a mistake and keeps trying to charge us money we don’t owe while I am sorting out arrangements for a two week meditation retreat in November having belatedly been offered a space there due to a cancellation. I am aiming to refurbish my halo.
After a late breakfast we headed off through Bodinnick, stopping at St John’s Church on the way for a gander and a friendly chat with some locals who were hanging an exhibition there. They are hoping to raise money to buy the little church, which has been deconsecrated, as a community resource. I hope they are successful as it seems nearly every little patch of land round here is being gobbled up by visitors or developers with fat wallets…
…and so on down the Hall Walk which follows the Fowey estuary towards Pont and Polruan. We were looking for a church near Hall Farm but didn’t have a map; we were promised a map by the host we rented our little cottage from, but when we arrived on Saturday evening it wasn’t here, so we are managing without. In the end we didn’t find the church and there was a dearth of signposts.
Sadly Hanne Lene was in pain after yesterday’s walk and decided to call it a day and head back to Fowey. I decided to continue on my own - Fowey is beautiful, but it is also overrun with visitors even in October.
I was just heading up a narrow footpath somewhere near Pont, towards Lanteglos Church when the heavens opened. I huddled under trees for shelter, hoping it wouldn’t go on too long, but in fact it went on for nearly half an hour. By this time I was pretty wet but at least I managed to keep my camera and kit dry. I found the church rather less spectacular than the rave reviews it had been given by our airbnb host; but it was good to take a break and dry out, and I was interested to learn that the women here, at least historically, kept their family or maiden names on marriage. Good for them! I wonder if they still do or whether this custom has been swept aside in the digital age?
I was on the point of heading home after this when I spotted a signpost which informed me I was less than a mile from Lantic Bay, which I heard well of. It was quite a clamber over the headland and downhill but I was rewarded with bright skies and a clear evening light. I had the wildness and beauty of the place almost to myself, though I was happy to share it with a pair of ravens who flew up out of a thicket and landed nearby