Posted by Ann
Although I do enjoy the summer here in the Duchy I feel Cornwall really comes alive in the winter. The stretch of coast from the Lizard Point to Porthleven is west facing which takes the brunt of whatever the Atlantic can throw at us.
The jobs that have to be done:
Our boat has to be pulled out and put to bed for the winter, the four times I’ve used it in the season makes all of that winter maintenance worth it! Ah well I’ll do the same again this winter! I may moan about it but deep down I do enjoy it!
Check the state of the winter wetsuit hoping it will do one more season. There is no other way to test this but to jump into the sea in November and hope it doesn’t leak like a sieve!
Find all of the winter rowing kit and pray it was washed before it was stored away somewhere.
So everything is prepped and ready to get out to enjoy the sea, its power, it’s excitement and to get away from life which only the sea can do in it’s all intoxicating way. Cliff top talks trying to work out the best place to surf these winter swells.
My wife is from the Isles of Scilly and she in the process of building a gallery on the island of St Agnes (the best of the islands in my opinion), so I am very lucky that I can take this feeling I get from the water and the feeling of isolation to another level out there. I used to have this feeling on The Lizard growing up. It is magical, but since I’ve had to move the city of Helston and the hustle and bustle of town life I love to get away even more.
St Agnes has a population of about eighty people. The pub closes for the winter and the shop only opens for three hours a day, so you have to get organised if you want beer o’clock after surfing!
Our dog is also a lover of winter. She loves her walks on Scilly, diving into the frigid water with steam coming off her; she has become the hound of this island! I love my commute to and from Scilly. It is only about fifty miles, but the modes of transport are definitely various. I first start in a golf buggy, then onto a boat, then a bus, then a plane, and finally back in my van to drive home.
As a gig rower the winter goes very fast as us rowers are looking at training for the Isles of Scilly Pilot Gig World Championships in May (where I met my wife). There never feels like enough time to get fit for it, rowing in all weathers off the Cornish coast.
But no matter how cold you get, you are never very far away from a pasty shop and a hot pasty to warm you up. You can’t beat it follow by a sweet cup of tea! Ansum!
If you would also like a Cornish Pasty to warm you up this winter Click Here
