Gwithian, Godrevy, and Seals

Last Sunday began with a drive to the Cornish North Coast with Sam.

When we arrived, our first port of call was Godrevy Lighthouse. We walked along the coastal path behind Gwithian beach towards it, and, despite the overcast weather, were still welcomed with incredible views of the sea. What was probably a 45 minutes-or-so walk flew by; before I knew it, we were staring at the lighthouse head-on. The brooding weather provided a great opportunity to see the sea crash against the island of the lighthouse, creating a very gothic, Frankenstein-eque scene. Also, Sam informed me that Godrevy is allegedly the exact lighthouse that inspired Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse. Apparently she on the other side of the St. Ives Bay (in St. Ives) when she wrote it. Cool, right?

We then walked onwards to what I thought was a different route back to the car park, until Sam stopped for a while to peer over the edge of a cliff. When I joined him I wasn't entirely sure what I was looking at. All I could see was large lumps of things on the sand, but I couldn't identify what they were. Rocks? No. Huge beach slugs? Do they even exist? No. Seals? Holy shit. Seals. There were so many seals resting in a location was absolutely perfect for them! The tall cliffs enclosing their small sanctuary ensures that they remain free from human interference, just as they should be.


The skies seemed to clear immediately after leaving the seals, just in time for a stop at the beach before heading home. I'm a total beach noob, so Gwithian easily fascinated me. Its distinctive flatness stops the sea from ever leaving it, meaning that even when the tide is out (like in the images below) the sand remains shallowly covered in seawater. And the sand itself, pattered with some irregular ripples of black, was smooth and clear expect for a few empty shells and translucent reflections of the sky. The entire scene was beautiful. I felt so happy.




Bye for now,
Ang

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