Day 15 - Boscastle, Tintagel Castle and compassion

Back up to the North Coast today, heavy overnight rain had made the path slippery but hopefully not too bad.

The sea end of Boscastle has a natural harbour entrance as a finger of land extends out beyond the harbour towards the southern headland. The village itself is extremely picturesque although most of it is newly rebuilt following a devastating flood in 2004 when a tidal wave of water estimated to be three meters high swept down the valley and through the village destroying everything in it's path.

The coast path towards Tintagel is a moderately testing one, with some steep, but relatively short up's and down's.

Between Bosacstle and Tintagel you descend into Rocky Valley, a picturesque valley formed by a stream that starts high up on Venn Down and tumbles down a series of small waterfalls all the way to the sea. You can undertake a mile long walk of the entire valley starting near Trevillet Mill.

For me though, the climb out was my next challenge. Albeit not too steep, the overnight rain meant water was running down parts of the path making the rocks slippery. Great care was required to get safely to the top!

About one mile and three quarters further on, you arrive at Tintagel (the village lies just inland) and the view of Tintagel Castle.

Claimed to be the site at which King Arthur was conceived (albeit in the settlement that existed in the 05th & 06th centuries AD), the castle ruins date from the 13th century and have been excavated and a bridge erected between the mainland and the island to connect the two parts of the castle (formerly joined by a land bridge).

After the briefest of looks around (the bridge is closed due to COVID and I couldn't be bothered to walk down the steep steps to see if the steep steps to the island were open!) I continued on my way for the last two miles or so, onto Trebarwith Strand.

The going is much easier on this part of the walk, although the path down to Trebarwith Strand is steep.

A small cove opens onto a much bigger beach popular with surfers and a pub sits higher up the southern side of the cove and offers nice views across the bay towards Tintagel (shame it is still closed!)

On my journey back, I am able to get a photograph of an unidentified moth that is sitting on the path. Once home I am able to discover it is a Scarlett Tiger Moth, which would have been even more spectacular had I been able to persuade it to open it's wings (the under wings are bright scarlett)

Finally, an ordinary mans views on the news today, which continues to be dominated by matters that seem to be based on peoples demands to not be offended. The #blacklivesmatter movement continues to gain recognition and seems to be creating an atmosphere where anything that is offensive to the people involved is in danger of being removed / hidden away.

Add to this the fact that Twitter has now started permanently banning people who they feel are causing offence (in this case Katie Hopkins - a woman whose views are questionable at best) and I am concerned that we are heading down a very dangerous path.

It is clear that the history of racist behaviour towards people of colour (if that's the correct phraseology) is unacceptable and everyone needs to be part of the solution to putting that right.

It cannot be right that to address the wrongs of the past, the past is forgotten. Discrimination (of any type) must be challenged so that it can be isolated and those that cannot see past somebody's race, colour or creed can be prevented from doing anymore harm.

Is it acceptable that people can write (or say) what they like about any subject they want? I believe it is, if I disagree with what is written or said, I have two options, I can engage in debate with the person expressing the views and try and alter their point of view, or I can simply ignore it and remember that the person is not someone whose opinions I share or support. Freedom of speech is essential to a civilised society, surely?

For me, The Dalai Lama summed it up with this quote:

"Compassion can be put into practice if one recognizes the fact that every human being is a member of humanity and the human family regardless of differences in religion, culture, color and creed. Deep down there is no difference."

Therefore, It is people's beliefs today that need challenging and adjusting, not yesterday's beliefs that need changing or eradicating as they provide a valuable lesson on how a lack of compassion causes unhappiness and disharmony. Only when we all recognise that others happiness is as important as our happiness (not less or more important, but as important) can we hope to live more fulfilled lives as Humans.

Rest day tomorrow, more planning for the remainder of the walk and Championship football restarts (albeit in empty stadiums!).