A lovely day walking

Actually a lot of talking too. I’m staying with D who is L’s dad, and a really good friend. We both said that talking almost non stop from breakfast to the end of the day is exhausting when you live by yourself and aren’t used to it. We walked along the coast path from Looe -/going west first, then back through Looe and out the other side, walking east.  Looe is waking up from the winter, the tourists season started today, lots of cafes and bars opening for the first time this year. A nice atmosphere - people feeling happy in the sunshine.  Most people smiled, lots stopped for a chat, it felt like we had plenty of time. 
Just once there was a massive downpour, but luckily we were in town and able to stand in a bus shelter. We got chatting with a young woman who had a bucket marked Plymouth University with her.  Turns out she is doing a PhD in marine biology, studying hermit crabs, specifically the sensors at the end of their claws and antennae. She had about 100 crabs, each in their own little pot, in the bucket. She showed us some - absolutely tiny, in winkle shells. Some waved their little claws at us. She explained that she doesn’t experiment on them, cutting bits off them, as has been done in previous experiments.  She feeds and cares for them for up to a month, and gives them a slightly bigger shell to move into.  Once they’re ready, they shed the whole of their outside and move, soft and vulnerable into the new shell, leaving behind the whole of the outside of their body, and it’s that she uses for her experiments and analysis. She has pioneered this ‘do no harm’ method.  In a matter of weeks they’ll be back home on the same beach, slightly bigger, and completely unharmed. Then she set off on the bus back to Plymouth with her huge bucket of crabs. She was so good at explaining, and so enthusiastic, I hope she becomes a lecturer at the uni. 
The first extra is of a lovely colourful rock with limpets on one of the beaches we explored. The second is a tree full of pussy willow, looking lovely on the coast path. 
(For some reason I can’t upload the extras here - I’ll try later when I have more wifi)