As one of our regular summer outings PPC scheduled a trip out to Cornwall, specifically Golitha Falls, Trethevy Quoit and Minions which are all located on Bodmin Moor, one of our outstanding national parks. The whole area is dotted with mine workings and some of the old pump houses still remain. Minions in particular has a number of good examples ideal for photography. While ultimately just four photographers made the relatively short journey, we were expecting nine on the day, it was no less a great day out with lots of laughter and merriment, good food as well as some very good photographic opportunities. I'm pretty sure in fact that a number of the photos taken will make it into future competitions. For some examples of images taken on the day, take a look at our album here.
The day started at about 09:30 when we pitched up in two cars at the car park next to Golitha Falls. Contrary to its name, there is no single waterfall at Golitha Falls, just a number of small pinch points where the water cascades down into small pools below before continuing on its never-ending onward journey to who knows where. This though offers some excellent opportunities for slow motion photography if this floats your boat or, if you like playing around with lenses and light, some interesting opportunities for people watching etc. However, before I tell you of some of the highlights of this part of the trip, let me wax lyrical about the near perfect breakfast baps to be had in the small cafe next to the car park. They offer a variety of tasty morsels here, not least the Redneck bacon bapp enjoyed by some, and the Pioneer (basically a Redneck with an egg on top), enjoyed by others. This was all washed down with a good cup of tea, well, at the second time of asking as the first was practically stone cold! All in all, a well-deserved 8/10 for the breakfast! Personally, I could have stayed there all day but the others being total pests cajoled me into vacating my seat at the table to start walking the treacherous track that follows the river (or stream as it more appropriately appears to be) through the forest. To be honest, a much easier track runs higher up so no need to break ancles or legs if you prefer a more relaxed walk with scenic photographic opportunity. All in all I would say we spent a good couple of hours here although we didn't get very far into the mile or so walk that we could have done. Even so, a good start to the day.
Next on the agenda was Minions. Now, I know what you're thinking, how strange to find little yellow bubble shaped people with high-pitched voices on Bodmin Moor! Sadly, this proved not to be the case and in fact Minions is just a place - yawn. Well, it's actually a bit more than "just a place". True, it's a tiny village on the fringes of the moor BUT it contains a vast number of derelict pump houses from a bygone age when tin mining was in its heyday. Nuff said, cameras out and we spent a good couple of hours here vying to find the best vantage points to out-do each other. It's not easy of course as I suspect that these pump houses have been photographed from every conceivable angle at every possible time of day. Nonetheless, it's a great way to spend a few hours and good exercise to boot! There are a couple of additional places of interest locally here, the first being Hurler Stones, a Neolithic stone circle right next to the car park and the Cheesewring, which Mike and Lesley Bond walked to, which is an interesting array of natural stones - visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheesewring for more information and some photos. Following on from all of this exertion we voted en-masse to have a cup of tea and some tea cakes at the local cafe. Very enjoyable.
The last point of interest on our journey was to be Trethevy Quoit, a Neolithic burial chamber which now sits alongside some considerably newer houses than would have existed back then. Again, if you want more information take a look at https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/trethevy-quoit/. Its location doesn't make it the easiest place to photograph but it's well worth exploring all of the angles. Again, it's within walking distance of a small car park so accessibility couldn't be better.
Our day out concluded with diner at the Premier Inn in Liskard followed by a short drive back to Torbay. Overall, it couldn't have gone better so a big thank you to Stuart Chapman and Mike and Lesley Bond for a very interesting and fun day out.
