Monday for Mindfulness

Last week's blog about Wales got me thinking about childhood holidays.  As a child, I remember so many great holidays down in Cornwall.  It was a time when it would take two days to complete the journey, with a lot of time spent sitting in long traffic jams on the Exeter bypass (if we are forced to convert to electric vehicles, it could take two days again).  By the time we got down to Newquay, Dad had had enough of driving, so the car would be parked up in a garage for the fortnight.

Most of our time was spent on the beach, but we always did at least one coach trip.  It was a day trip to the Lizard Peninsula.  We usually had coffee in a cafe overlooking Kynance Cove, which was, at that time, privately owned, so it was not possible to go down to the cove itself.

This photo is one I found on the internet, but there was no name for the photographer.

Then it was on to the village/town of Lizard itself, where we would eat the picnic lunch supplied by our guest house in Newquay, before ending the day trip with  cream tea overlooking the harbour at Mullion Cove.

The last time Geoff and I went down that way, it was still a beautiful area, and I have special memories.  Kynance Cove is now National Trust, so everyone can visit it. However, because it is a long trek down to the beach, it is really quiet in the evenings.  We used to park up in the car park, and stroll along the pathway across to the way own to the sea.  In my mind, it was always sunny and warm, walk in through grassland filled with wildflowers, smothered with bees humming away, and beautiful butterflies.  I can recall the perfume of those flowers and the sounds of those bees.  We always brought a small piece of the serpentine rock back from the beach on those walks.

Lizard itself has not changed much since my childhood, but on the coach trips we never had time to walk out to the lighthouse, so we had to be content to buy a small model lighthouse made from the serpentine rock.  I still have that and treasure it.

I was an only child but I still had a wonderful time on those holidays with my parents.  These days, I would avoid places like Newquay,which have changed so much since then.  I prefer to keep those happy memories more or less intact.  Days when we would check the tides, catch the bus to Porth,walk to the cliff top cafe for a cream tea (jam then cream) while we waited for the tide to drop just enough to allow us to walk round the point on the beach to the next bay. Then we could walk all the way back to the harbour on the beach., just in time for a proper Cornish ice cream, or even a tea tray that we could take down onto the beach.  How many of you remember tea trays, with china cups and saucers, and glass bottles of pop with a paper straw, and a plate of cakes or a cream tea?

I could go on for ever about walking the cliffs in the evening or catching the bus to Bedruthan to walk all the way back.  But I will leave you to think about what memories make you happy.  It is sounds and smells that conjure up so many memories.  What sounds and smells bring back happy thoughts?

P.S.  I have discovered that several of my family actually read this blog so welcome to you all.  I hope you enjoy it.