Where are we going?

The weather has been so dire recently that it’s been nigh impossible to do any walks for Cornwall Today or my forthcoming walks book. At the end of January we had a weekend in South East Cornwall and managed a couple of walks but that was for the first time in over two months. My poor camera has also gone into a sulk.

And as if to coincide with this mud induced hibernation, my dear friend Viv, well known by CT readers, has been stuck in London since early October. My other dear walking buddy is Oop North for a short while, so it was sheer chance that I bumped into an ex-neighbour: a nurse who works in the High Dependency Unit at Treliske and was there when Pip died. (She also gave me the best possible advice about dealing with death, having lost her son not long ago. “The sooner you can accept it, the easier it will be to get over it,” she said. That helped me more than I can say.)

I hadn’t seen her for a year or more and bumped into her in Sainsbury’s a few weeks ago. We went for a drink and discovered a mutual love of walking, so I invited her along one day. She wasn’t working yesterday, and as the weather’s been dry and sunny (gasp), I thought great, we can do a walk for CT and/or the book.

Next was where to go – I have 6 destinations that need to be explored, but there’s a south east wind blowing that’s bitter, so it’s better to walk on the North Coast, away from the icy blast. I then thought of Padstow, but it’s half term so it would be crowded. So I decided on Bodmin Moor, and off we set for St Clether, and a walk near a Holy Well that I thought would be interesting.

“Great,” said Fiona. “It’s near Altarnun. I know that well.” So off we set.
Heading into the depths of Bodmin Moor, her car started bleeping – no petrol. As any Cornish dwellers know, petrol stations are few and far between on Bodmin Moor. After about ten miles of rather nervous driving we spotted a garage – but no petrol (only diesel).

After an even more nervous journey, we found another garage that did have petrol. Phew. We turned off at the Jamaica Inn turning, and drove along a beautiful valley with a stream on our left. “Perfect for cycling,” said Fiona as we drove along, lapping up the graceful sunshine.

Finally we came to our destination and parked outside the church, followed instructions about walking through the churchyard – but couldn’t find the granite posts that should have been there. We tried the other way but that led to the pub (hah!). Heading back to the smaller gate, I spotted the vicarage, so we knocked on the door, which was opened by a charming lady with grey hair and a blustering retriever, hell bent on escape. We proferred our map, explained where we wanted to go.

“Ah,” she said with a smile. “This is St Cleer, not St Clether. But there’s a holy well here, and we were walking on the downs this morning which is lovely.”

As we walked back through the churchyard, I got the giggles, thinking of a particular friend of mine who will be hooting with laughter when he reads this. I always tend to get lost on my walks, but getting lost before we start has to be a first.

So we ended up having a completely different, but one of the loveliest walks I’ve ever had on Bodmin Moor. It was truly magical; eerily quiet, with a hazy spring sunshine dappling through the trees, and the moorland so rugged and ancient: a world away from south Cornwall where I live. It really did feel like we’d travelled to another part of the world.

I came back home filled with the sense of spring: in my living room is a bunch of sweet narcissi that delight me with their cheery deep yellow and orange faces. A pink hyacinth’s scent is richer, more mature, like dark chocolate cake, or a cleverly seasoned curry.

I sat on my sofa, and reflected on the ironies of life. So that, my dear friends, is why I always take someone on my walks. With a sense of direction like mine, I wouldn’t even get there, let alone come back otherwise.

The Gig and Confidence

The weather's been too bad to take pictures recently, but this was taken several weekends ago on one of our Cornwall Today walks. The walker at work - with camera, tape recorder etc. Though Moll is ahead, nose in a cowpat probably. She rarely suffers from lack of confidence.

Thanks for all your good wishes last week. Thankfully, I woke up one night and found the heavy foot that had been sitting on my chest for the past week had lifted. I still coughed a lot but it was freer, easier, so I could start to sing again.

So that was a great relief, and the gig went really well. I have to say that my confidence in singing with just three of us stems from my friend Paul’s monthly parties in Mylor Bridge where he hires a hall, we all take food and drink and then sing or perform afterwards. The first time I sang with him and Janet I was so terrified I thought I was going to fall over, my legs were literally shaking so much.

But I got over that, and the next time was easier. And the time after that, and after I went wrong at Prussia Cove, and laughed it off, I thought, well that’s the worst that can happen and I survived it.

So on Saturday, while I was nervous, I got up on stage with Paul and Janet and thought, “this is going to be OK.” It’s a smallish stage but feels friendly, and I opened my mouth, and realised I was going to enjoy it. Which I did!

Confidence is such a tricky thing, I find. Lack of it has been my downfall for most of my life, so finally gathering some together is a real joy. It doesn’t take much to knock me down, but at least now I have stakes to hold onto and haul myself back up. I have (in no particular order) my work, singing, some very special friends and boating.

What do you use to pick yourself up with?

Wheezing and spluttering

I was congratulating myself on not having succumbed to any lurgies when I wrote the post last week about our wet review weekend. Hah! Since the weekend I have been wheezing like a chain smoker on 40 Players a day, and am astonished by how much I’m sleeping.

It appears to be a chest infection, something I was well used to in the days when I smoked heavily – which I’m glad to say was nearly 20 years ago. Since then my lungs have remained germ free but a particularly tenacious bug seems to have settled in there. Sometimes it just makes my chest feel tight, but if, like last night, Paul made me laugh too much, I started coughing and couldn’t stop. So I blame it all on him…

We have a big gig at the Poly in Falmouth on Saturday, though, so I am desperate to be well enough for that. Three of us are singing a couple of numbers which we’ve been rehearsing for weeks, and it would be too unfair not to be able to perform. Although the mere thought of it sends me into spasms of terror.

So think of me on Saturday evening. I will either be wracked with nerves, and spluttering quietly in a corner. Or wheezing and grinding my teeth at home. I hope, knowing me, it will be the former. By hook or by crook…..

Reviews

This is the church at Herodsfoot - the walk we did on Saturday. A lovely tucked away, secret little place.

I’ve been fortunate enough, over the last year, to do several reviews of dog friendly accommodation for an annual publication on where to stay with your dog. While I don’t get paid for this, it means they pay for me and another (plus Moll of course) to stay somewhere for 2 nights in return for a write up and photos.

I usually take Viv who is in dire need of some respite, but she is stuck in London at the moment poor love and unable to get back. As you can imagine, I’m not stuck on volunteers to come with me, and each time we go, it turns into an adventure as we never know where we’re going, what the place will be like, or who we’ll meet.

Last Friday we turned up in the dark, in driving wind and rain, already wet due to a quick walk with Moll on the way up – and of course it was wetter than I’d realised. Unfortunately, having made our way down a very long potholed drive, the place we were staying in didn’t have any heating. Or rather, the night store heaters had been turned off.

The lovely fellow there gave us some logs but they were wet, so we had to go back and ask for kindling. He came over with a sackful and soon we got the woodburner going, but it was still icy. Then I saw the electric cooker. “I know,” I said, putting both ovens and all hobs on. We stood in front of the cooker with the doors open, hands outstretched, and breathed a sigh of relief as the warmth began to permeate.

And gradually, we warmed up. Though there was a nasty point at around 9pm when we were just about to settle down to watch a DVD when the power went off. We realised it was due to the coin meter having run of money, so went back to the farmhouse as we didn’t have any £1 coins. Oh, and did they have any hot water bottles?

Luckily they returned with more heaters and a handful of £1 coins. So we got the place warm and manifogled a hot water bottle out of the empty wine bottle we filled with hot water – they make very good substitutes.

So after a dodgy start to the weekend, we ended up doing two great walks for Cornwall Today and all was not lost.

Except that we’re both brewing pretty vicious colds and coughs……

Being a writer

This is Lamouth Creek, which has nothing to do with this post but is part of a walk that dear Viv and I often do, and which I did the other day, in the pouring rain. We know this walk so well that I rarely notice the surroundings, so it was good to go with someone who'd never been before, and really appreciated it. It is one that I've written about for Cornwall Today, and as writing and walking are inextricably linked at the moment, I wanted to talk about the writing side of it today.

Being a published author is a very strange experience. Terrifying and uplifting in equal measures. But it also seems rather unreal. You put all that work into something and then it’s out of your hands. And by the time it’s published, you’ve moved onto another project and it seems almost like the work of someone else.

Last week one of my singing friends told me that Discover Cornwall was in Tesco’s in Truro and as I had to go to Truro anyway, we headed into Tesco’s to have a look. There, to my delight, was a stand immediately as you walk in, with several Cornish books, one of which was mine!

We stood there, grinning broadly, while I jumped up and down a bit, then said, “I should sign them, shouldn’t I?” And hurried off to find the store manager. “Oh, right,” he said with a bemused frown. But we took the six copies of my book and I signed them by the newspapers, then returned them to the stand. Luvitt laughed. “You could have been anyone,” he said. But I pointed out there wouldn’t have been much point signing them in his name.

“You could put a sign saying, “signed by the author,” ” I said to the store manager. He nodded. “Good idea.” You could tell he’d never had an author in Tesco before.

So we left Tesco’s and I went off to sign another 5 copies for a competition for Cornwall Today. All in all, a very gratifying experience and one that I will treasure.

As I said on the way home, this first book seemed like a one off. It has happened by default. I’ve been floundering as a first time author, not knowing how the system works, what is expected of me. But having my publishers say yes they want another book is wonderful and very self affirming.

I feel I can really hold my head up now and say, “I’m a writer. A journalist and an author.” And whatever else may be going on in my life, that is truly magical.

After the Downs, An Up...

This picture has nothing to do with the post, but was taken on the Isles of Scilly last year to remind us all that we did have some sunshine, and some magic days. This was Moll's first trip to Scilly, and meeting a horse and loads of feathered friends.

Given that the end of last year and the beginning of this year were, frankly, pretty miserable, life has taken a turn for the Up, I’m glad to report.

On Monday I got an email to say that Sigma, my publishers, would like to publish my next walks book – Circular Walks with Cornish Writers – which I’m delighted about. When I saw the email from Jane I was almost too afraid to open it in case they said no. But of course you can’t leave an email like that unread.

At first I was pleased, then euphoria bubbled up like the champagne that I won’t be drinking as I don’t like the stuff. And suddenly life turned from grey, to black and white and shot through with the promise of colour. It's incredible the difference a bit of good news can make.

Just to continue the Upwards trend, last night one of my dearest absent friends returned (the other one, Viv, is still stuck in London, sadly) so we had a lovely dinner out and caught up and I got my Christmas present. A trip on a Tall Ship.

So 2013 is going to be one of lots of walks. Literary ones as well as Cornwall Today ones. There will be some boating and some sailing and who knows what? Doubtless a fair share of rollercoaster ups and downs, knowing my life.

They’ve forecast snow though I doubt it will reach Cornwall. If it does, we’re going to take Moll off at the weekend to explore and take photos of the white stuff….

And I leave you with a thought from the film of the Exotic Hotel Marigold, that I saw for the second time the other night:

"The person who risks nothing, has nothing."

Compliments, more rejections and forward planning

http://youtu.be/VLIzjMtkqLc

This clip is from As Good As It Gets, one of my favourite films. With one of my best mates, I've seen it so many times, but there’s always something new in the script, or the acting, both of which are incredible and never fail to touch me, make me laugh, and make me cry. Here’s Melvyn attempting to pay Carole the best compliment of his – and her – life. (I love her expression at his first kiss!) Time to watch it again, definitely.

Talking of tears – over the last few days I’ve managed not to cry at all - other than at a flashmob video and a Kate Rusby number. Oh, and the film Quartet last night. And coming back from Mum’s. But I've always cried very easily and just now it doesn't take much to get me going. It doesn't mean I'm miserable; just that my emotions are very near the surface.

I’m continuing to send the novel out to agents and managed to get two rejections in one morning which must be a record – of kinds. But I’ve made a list of all the agents I will send it to, and will work my way through that. I started reading it again a few days ago, and to my astonishment, I'm really enjoying it. So if I can enjoy it, someone else must.

Luckily I’ve got other work on and yesterday went to interview the station manager of Source FM (very good looking fellow), the community radio in Falmouth and Penryn, who interviewed me for their version of Desert Island Discs last summer. I’ve done several radio interviews and was stunned by how professional they were – so good luck to them. If you fancy a listen, it’s broadcast on 96.1FM

I’m also planning my next walks – two in South East Cornwall which have to be done in January. Looking at the OS map - the area my editor asked for - this is low lying woodland. Given the rain we’ve had over the past few months, I’m just hoping it doesn’t rain too much between now and the end of January, which is when I’m also booked to review some dog friendly accommodation, thereby killing two reviews with one Flowerpot.

On a non-work note, I’m looking forward to some boating soon, and this afternoon we’re starting rehearsals for our Poly gig in February where Paul, Janet and I will be singing some numbers in a trio.

And I leave you with ponderings over the Clustermap on this blog. If you click on it, it shows who’s looked at my blog recently, worldwide. I’m stunned to see that people from Ireland, Nebraska, Holland and Birmingham have been reading it. So who are you all, and why don’t you leave a message? Go on – I’d love to hear from you.