After the seemingly unending bands of rain sweeping across Cornwall we finally see some sort of difference in the weather today. It's still showery but today there has been more dry than wet and the sun has made an appearance.
Linda and Tony (David's sister and her husband) and their two sons, William and James have taken refuge here in the little cottage after a bad experience camping the night before so they are here until the holiday cottage that they've booked for the weekend and next week is available to them.
Tony knows this area well because he came from Devon before moving to Surrey and he's fished in our local lake on many occasions. He wanted to take the boys sailing on the lake this afternoon but there are no boats because of the high winds so we had a quick gander at the map and decided on Gollitha Falls, a mere two miles from here. We can walk there is a very short time. Today though, we took the cars so that they could continue on to the coast to slosh around in some surf, while we came home and snoozed for the afternoon in the peace and quiet of a child-free home - bliss.
We rarely come into contact with children so to have two little boys in such close proximity for two days is something of a challenge for us. We've had to adjust to a different kind of noise and energy from the dogs. They are good boys, very helpful and well behaved - it's just that we're not used to being in their company for any length of time. I've commented before that parents seem to be able to let it all wash over them but for us it's quite wearing.
Anyway, this morning we all went up to the falls at Gollitha. The river is a babbling rushing torrent at the moment after all the rain we've seen fall in the area and it's stained orange from the peat the water soaks through to get to the river. It's a great place because it's in a deep valley, densely wooded with beech trees throughout. I can't wait to see it in the autumn when beech really comes into its own.The dogs were able to be off the lead with the complete security that no sheep would be around in such an environment. It's the first time this holiday that we've had that luxury as our new home is in sheep country and a certain male Border Collie can't be trusted around sheep.....yesterday morning when I was up in our jungle of a garden with them, he came down the path and disappeared out onto the road - not a problem as it's a quiet road and I couldn't hear any cars, but a few moments later, as I was still negotiating the steep slippery granite steps that lead to our 'roof of the world' garden, three sheep went running past the end of the alley and Archie was in pursuit. I nearly had heart failure - that'd be a terrible introduction to the farmers that are adjacent to our land. All was well though, he wasn't at 'full pelt' and he came back when called so I was very relieved. Anyway that meant it was good to let them have an unfettered charge around this morning.
The falls aren't high, rather lots of little three or four foot small falls but nonetheless it is a spectacular sight. I have a suspicion we will spend a lot of time there.We had a great couple of hours just mooching around on the banks, chucking sticks into the pool for Archie to swim after and clambering over rocks to get close to the water. All-in-all it was a fantastic experience.
Each day gets a bit easier - today the fridge was delivered so we can now keep the milk fresh for more than twenty four hours and we can go and collect the mattress for our new bed tomorrow so nights will become much more comfortable from tomorrow night. It just keeps getting better.
