nichepoetryandprose

poetry and prose about place

Posts Tagged ‘Cornwall

glimpses of country life – drying day

with 5 comments

For the last two weeks, I have continued on my stationary bike, touring (virtually) through the Cornwall countryside.  Since I last reported, I have gone from Rinsey Croft to the coastal town of Prussia Cove.  Since the road does not run along the coast, I have spent most of my biking miles travelling on short roads from the highway to various coastal towns.  In this stretch, I biked for 150 minutes, and saw about 9 km of the Cornwall countryside.

~

Rinsey to Prussia Cove

~

As I bike, I love seeing the vignettes of country life captured by Street View.  Gates, of course, and stone walls.  Cows and horses grazing in the meadows.  People hiking along the roads and working in their gardens.  And a line of washing, hung out on the line to dry.

~

September 7, 2014  'drying day'  acrylic 20 X 24  Jane Tims

September 7, 2014 ‘drying day’ acrylic 20 X 24 Jane Tims

~

Reminds me of home.

~

IMG346_crop

~

Copyright  2014  Jane Tims

back to Cornwall

with 4 comments

Although I have done some stationary biking since I ended my virtual trip across northern New Brunswick, I want to get back to the regular schedule I followed when I biked virtually in France and Cornwall.  So I have decided to hop back on the Street View road and see some more of Cornwall.

~

In Phase 7 of my virtual cycling, I finished the southern coast of Cornwall at Landewednack and Lizard.  I’ll begin Phase 9 at Predannack Wollas and cycle around the west coast of Cornwall.  I’ll look forward to seeing Arthur’s Titagel and Doc Martin’s Port Isaac.  Mostly, my knees will benefit from more regular exercise.

~

Predannack Wollas to Porthleven

Predannack Wollas to Porthleven

~

I have my first four days plotted and I start tomorrow.  Just for old time’s sake, here is one of my earlier paintings from southern Cornwall …

~

November 26, 2013  'maple and oak near Helford'   Jane Tims

~

Copyright  2014  Jane Tims

yet another Cornwall gate

with 7 comments

As you may have seen on my ‘accomplishments’ page, I have sold the painting ‘rainbow gate in Falmouth’. It was on display as part of an art auction at Isaac’s Way Restaurant in Fredericton.

~

The art at auction at Isaac’s Way helps local children’s charities, in this case providing opportunities for summer theatre. Once I have sold a painting, I can replace the painting with another and now ‘gate in Ponsanooth’ is up for auction!  You can see the painting at  https://nichepoetryandprose.wordpress.com/2014/01/24/another-cornwall-gate/ .

~

I am continuing to paint in my Cornwall gates series.  This past weekend, I painted another gate from Ponsanooth entitled ‘enter’.  Gates are meaningful to me, as metaphors for change and as representative of possibility.  And the various building materials, stone, cement, wood and metal, are very enjoyable to paint …

~

February 22, 2014  'enter'  Jane Tims

February 22, 2014 ‘enter’ Jane Tims

~

Copyright  2014   Jane Tims

Written by jane tims

February 26, 2014 at 7:08 am

along the Cornwall shore 7-1

with 10 comments

After completing my virtual bike journey through central France, I was faced with a decision …. where to go next?  I considered all sorts of places, but the winner has been the setting for some of my favorite literature  … the Cornwall coast of England.

A few minutes with Street View convinced me.  Along the Cornwall coast are the ocean views I love, the rugged shoreline of Daphne du Maurier fame, the hilly countryside of southern England, and numerous opportunities for side trips to see farmsteads, churchyards and ruins.   It was hard to settle on the 26 images that would take me through my first 30 minute virtual bike excursion.  So hard, in fact, I selected 39 images for the first trip!

I decided to begin just west of Plymouth, and I plotted ten, 3 km trips to begin.  Beyond that is a more than 300-km-distance around the entire Cornwall coast.

~

journal 7-1

~

map 7-1

~

Today’s trip took me through the hamlet of Rame, along the Whitsand Bay of the Atlantic Ocean.  The Street View image of the parking lot at Rame’s Head provides a view of 14th century Saint Michael’s chapel on a cone-shaped headland.  The chapel is now derelict and is thought to be the site of a Celtic hermitage …

~

7-1 aa

St Michael’s chapel is the tiny building on the cone-shaped hill at about 5 o’clock (image from Street View)

~

The first part of the trip took me past the Saint Germanus churchyard …

~

7-1 i

Saint Germanus churchyard (image from Street View)

~

The church was dedicated in 1259, on the site of an older building.  In the church are pews surviving from the 16th century!  Since there is no electricity or gas, services are by candlelight.  I particularly like the lych gate in front of the church since my novel begins with my main character standing under a lych gate to keep dry from the rain.  A lych gate is a covered gate – during a funeral, the body of the deceased person is carried through the lych gate on the way to the church …

~

7-1 k

Saint Germanus church in Rame (image from Street View)

~

The next part of my trip was along the Military Road.  This road runs along the coast on the high land.  Other, narrower (!) roads run between the small communities closer to the coast.  My guess is, this road was built as a way to patrol the coastline for military purposes …

~

7-1 zf

Military Road near Rame – Gorse blooming along the road (image from Street View)

~

I enjoyed my visit with a herd of horses along the Military Road …

~

7-1 zd

~

As I looked back along the road I’d just travelled (virtually), I was so glad I chose this as the next stage of my exercise scheme …

~

7-1 ze

~

Best View:  so many to choose from!  I liked a view of lilacs in the yard of a house near Rame …

~

IMG651_crop

July 1, 2013 ‘Lilacs near Rame’ Jane Tims

~

Copyright  Jane Tims  2013

Written by jane tims

July 17, 2013 at 7:15 am

%d bloggers like this: