We have Driftwood beach chalet to ourselves for a few days after a few particularly busy Forever Cornwall weeks. It has been time for some TLC — all of the window hinges have seized up after a few winters of thrashing by salty Atlantic winds (a day of ‘fun’ with screwdriver, wire-brush and marine-grade grease has worked wonders). So by Sunday it’s time for a well earned break. Poppy, Midge and I head out for a long beach-combing session, while Maria sleeps off a birthday celebration. And it’s one of those perfect winter days in Cornwall. You are aware of texture everywhere, accentuated by the crisp light from the low sun. The marram grass, the sand, the black-golden-granite cliff face, the surf with sets of curling glassy waves, peeling left and right from the offshore rocks that make the surf work at high tide down below the Lifeguard hut, even the sky itself seems newly etched onto the retina. With the tide high, we walk ‘down’ the coast towards Upton Towans, over the dunes, following the meandering paths, St Ives and Carbis Bay beckoning us across the bay. After half an hour we descend to the beach, now revealed pristine again with footprints washed away by the ebbing tide. We are able to make it back to the chalets at Gwithian by slipping from cove to cove, dodging the rushing foamy tongues of spent rollers as they race across the hissing sand. I’m glad to have a camera in my pocket, glad to have the privilege of West Cornwall as a neighbor, and the sea as a friend.
You can get up-to-the-minute surf reports for Gwithian and all of Cornwall’s best breaks at magicseaweed.com