England,  Photography,  Walking

Welcome To Padstow

April 15, 2021 /

In truth it feels more like “welcome home”, so often have we visited this lovely place down the years that returning to Padstow often feels like coming home.

To get here is a 320-mile, five and a half hour drive from our actual home but our drive down was stress free and sunshine virtually all the way, and arriving to see the picturesque estuary and harbour bathed in the afternoon sun was a treat.

The current COVID restrictions mean that only outdoor catering is permitted, and a quick reconnaissance around the harbour established that just 2 of Padstow’s 6 pubs are open, augmented by a number of eateries serving outdoor food and drink. Having been in Turkey until November and in various forms of lockdown since then, we are rather wonderfully able to enjoy our first taste of a proper draught English ale since last September – that’s seven months which, in Phil’s case, is probably the longest spell without a “proper beer” since he was 14!

One of the endless fascinations here is the different character of the estuary at different points in the tidal sweep; at high tide, the entire beach in these photographs is submerged, as far as the lofty dunes opposite, and the whole vista is one of water. At low tide the estuary becomes a narrow channel with huge expanses of sandy beach. It never ceases to be of interest.

And so our first few hours here are quintessentially English: a couple of pints of Tribute at The Old Ship and fish and chips from Chip Ahoy. Next, the coastal path is calling.

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