10th wedding anniversary

Today was our 10th wedding anniversary and what an amazing way to celebrate it.

We awoke at Kayle Farm, a campsite 5 miles from Hayle.

The coastline around here is truly amazing. We walked around it yesterday and were looking for a suitable place to kayak. On the walk we also saw our first seals, but from afar using binoculars, so we really wanted to get a bit closer, and wow, did we get close!

We parked Dora in a National trust car park. The warden let us off the additional cost of Dora as she was so cute. We prepared the boats and hauled them down some steep steps to the coast. The tide was out which had exposed a sandy beach and rocks, it was particularly beautiful; the sand and rocks revealed all the sea life species. We placed Barca and Barco in the water to launch. The sea was as calm as a mill pond and the slight current made paddling easy.

By canoeing in the sea you get to see sea life in its own environment. The seaweed hanging from the rocks looked like curtains.

The next rock was a nest of mussels clustered tightly together competing for space. We regretted not having brought a basket with us to harvest some. Need to look into how we would prise them from the rocks to get a free moules marinière.

Here comes the first exciting moment of the day.

We were approaching the spot where we saw the seals the previous day from the cliff. Yesterday we saw half a dozen seals. Today there were many more, each small outcrop had some resting peacefully on the rock. We were probably ten metres distance from them but still they were incredibly difficult to identify due to their tremendous camouflage. As we got near, they would slide awkwardly into the water, but once in, they would become incredibly graceful. Keeping a slight distance they would approach us quizzically, their long grey whiskers glinting in the sun. Once they got bored lying on their backs in the water, they would dive back in with a snort through their nostrils , reappearing somewhere else. What an amazing experience, we felt so lucky they would approach us like that and get to know them in their own environment.

We took this photo through the binoculars on the walk the day before . Not bad quality.

We stopped for lunch in a quiet isolated beach where half a dozen people had managed to scramble down the cliff and were sunbathing. Some were taking photos of our canoes. Seriously, we will contact the manufacturer to start promoting them for a commission. The tide started to come back in, so we had to rescue the two kayaks before they left without us.

On the way back, the changing tide had created a denser and choppier sea. The current had also changed, and for a while, was flowing in our favour. The turbulence added excitement to the paddling allowing you to surf down the waves.

Paddling back was therefore quick, so we decided to go a little bit further and venture around a small island with a lighthouse upon it.

All went well until we got to the other side of the island where the current was particularly strong. Furious paddling got you nowhere and we were both getting tired, so we allowed the current to take us back the way we had come and battled back over the choppy patch to the rocky shore. In the process, a dozen seals followed us; they seemed concerned at our predicament. They got very close to the canoes and we liked to think they even worried about us.

The current was still against us, but we found a small sheltered patch of water where we could pull up and rest for a while. After this, we were able to paddle deep and consist to pull the kayaks through the current; after another twenty minutes we were able to get out of the current. In the meantime the seals had continued to follow us and an ever increasing closeness. It is a shame that with the stress and exertion we had forgotten them.

A dozen of locals were following attentively with their binoculars a seal that apparently was following. “Did you see the seal” One of them asked us. We looked at him, exhausted. “Yes, actually, we have been surrounded by dozens of them” We thought, but we didn’t even have the energy to explain.

Despite the time spent battling with the sea we still got back to the car park at the time planned. We packed up the canoes had a shower and got ready to go out for dinner to celebrate our anniversary.

The restaurant was in Newquay, half an hour up the coast in a place called Lusty Glazed Beach, a private beach and restaurant north of Newquay.

We had a lovely meal. Whitebait for starter

And fish stew for main course

The memories of our wedding day were particularly poignant as the restaurant was hosting a wedding that evening. But it was still nowhere near as beautiful as ours at el Parador de Jarandilla, Caceres, Spain. We personalised many aspects of our own wedding, such as the vows. In them, we mentioned the things we have in common, travelling being one of them. Who would have thought that, 10 years from then, we would be taking this trip. Dora has in certain ways brought us back to the way we used to live at that time….

SM & GDR