It's my birthday today, yep, I've reached the grand old age of 44 today. I must say that this has been one of the best birthdays I can remember. I've had an unusually big stack of post from my family and friends - maybe it's because we're here in Cornwall and they won't see me.

We've had a busy day, shopping in St Austell in the morning for decent quality waterproofs (after getting rained on so much I'm beginning to feel like I'm rusting up). The rain here is set to continue for the next week according to the forecasts and that can only add to the misery of the people washed out of their homes and the businesses who rely on tourism to generate an income. We heard from a friend with a shop in Mevagissy that sales are down by 30% across much of the county. The two months of July and August together account for roughly 40% of annual income so to be so far down on takings must really affect the viability of their businesses.

This afternoon our new bed arrived - hurrah! It's in, assembled and made up with bedding so it's all ready to be jumped into.......I can't wait! I'm so tired I could sleep for a week.

After the pace of the morning and afternoon, we decided to take the dogs up Caradon Hill to explore the South Caradon Mine buildings. They are impressive for all sorts of reasons. Firstly their history - and that of our cottage are interlinked. Our cottage was built to house miners working the Caradon mines. Secondly their complete dominance of the local landscape is apparent every time we look out of the window or take a walk. The buildings are amazing insights into a time when this hillside and valley were thriving communities of raucous miners and associated professions. There was a drinking house called the House of Blazes (thought to have been a brothel too) here. The sounds and sights of the mines pumping engines and the crushing machinery must have filled the valley, along with the comings and goings of the thousands of incoming mineworkers, attracted to the area by the booming industry.

Interestingly, there has been open cast mining and 'streaming' (the process of washing tin from the water in the river) since at least the middle of the seventeenth century, when records clearly show the industry, although it didn't really take off until the nineteenth century, when the deep shaft mining first began. The mines shafts drop down to huge depths - I can't find reference to the depth of this particular mine (yet) but the Phoenix mines we went to yesterday were two hundred fathoms deep.

The weather has been spectacular today, a mix of rain and sunshine again. Shortly before this photo was taken, the black clouds in the background had been dumping rain on us. We spent ten minutes or so sheltering in the engine room pictured here (Jopes Stack).

Our short little two mile stroll around the mine (taken from a circular walks book) was lengthened and made more difficult because we missed a path we were supposed to take and ended up right on top of the hill by the radio masts. By the time we realised we'd gone wrong, it was too late to retrace our steps so we just walked down to Minions and on home from there so a two mile walk turned into about five or six miles!

So, home and a very pleasant evening with Stuart and Tor, and old friend of DMs and his little two year old son, who came here for supper. What a good day.