Lundy Bay on the north Cornwall coast nr. Polzeath

We set off slightly later than expected for a jaunt a short way up and around the coast to Lundy Bay which Helena had spotted on a map. It is yet another of the wonderful National Trust owned treasures of Britain which are open to all. We parked up high next to a corn field which was about to be harvested as the weather is perfect for it at the moment. A half mile walk followed meandering down a steep valley allowed to become overgrown with a small wood and rambling scrub where butterflies and birds could thriving.

At the end of the valley the track divided with part joining the cliff top coastal pathway that traverses all the western counties. We went along it for a few hundred yards so we could see the coast and its cliffs as they disappeared into the distance. I spent a lot of time taking pictures whilst Helena lay down beside the path high on the edge of the cliff to write. Eventually we retraced our steps to where the paths had divided and then dropped down a gully to the a small beach formed where the stream had cut through the rock and formed an inlet.

By the time we got there we found the tide had dropped below the exposed rocks, which are all jumbled up on top of each other, and was receding back over soft sands with exposed clumps of seaweed, various sizes and shapes of different rock types, and clumps of mussels and other shellfish clinging to the intertidal rocks. Helena soon went for a swim whilst I carried on taking pictures of rock pools, shapes in the sand, dogs playing together in the surf, and all manner of other unusual scenes you find in such places. I shall add a lot to a Flickr gallery when we return home.

Just before we climbed down to the beach I took this picture of Lundy Bay from the coastal path above it, with the point in the distance marking where the Camel river estuary flows out past both Padstow and Polzeath and into the Atlantic Ocean. It was a lovely bay and we shall try to return one day as there is so much more to see and do. Tomorrow we have to leave this coast and will be going to the south coast of Devon to stay with old friends for one night and then n to Paignton for two more nights. the holiday isn't over yet!