The Altar

Had a wonderful day off. M was at work so Ollie and I set off for a two hour cliff top walk. Wonderfully warm and sunny, with blue skies and shining seas. We walked round to The Altar, it is still attached to the cliff but has three great gashes where the rock has been eroded leaving four legs. They are 20 - 30 feet high and absolutely incredible to see. You can watch the waves breaking through them and see daylight at the other side.

I sat at the cliff edge, not too close, for a while and watched gannets diving into the seas. They are amazing to watch, the sheer speed and force with which they pierce the water. There were cormorants too, standing on the rocky ledges drying their wings, gulls wheeling in the thermals and great skuas cruising the skies, looking for the weak and vulnerable. The gulls were coming really close, having a good look at Ollie, who was so exhausted with bouncing through the grass that he was lying there panting. Luckily none of them spat at him! They regurgitate a horrid fishy oily gunge when they feel threatened. We must have looked sufficiently non-threatening, they were just making sure.

Whenever I take Ollie out I always take a couple of poo bags with me, so that I can clear up after him. Luckily I had some in my pocket today. There were lots of horse mushrooms snuggled in the cliff top grass and I collected a lovely bag of them for supper. And yes, it was a clean bag!