Great uncle Charles

Some of you will remember my post in April when I wondered who had carved “Sarah”into the stone low down in the hedge on Mousehole Lane, the hill between Mousehole and Paul. I was delighted when my neighbour told me that it had been done by his great uncle Charles Tregenza in 1887, Charles even signed his handiwork
Great uncle Charles was 24 in 1887 but was already destined to work with stone as he went on to become a master builder and built his own house, Tavis Vor, which is now the lodge to The Coastguard in Mousehole.
I am assuming that Sarah was his girlfriend but the romance, if that is what it was, did not last as Charles married Nellie, they had eight boys and then a daughter, Mary Viola, who died aged only 8 in 1911, I am haunted by their loss of a precious daughter in those days before antibiotics.

Charles Tregenza was a pillar of the community
and became the mayor of Penzance in 1934

I am happy to think that under all that fur and civic pomp he cared enough to carve the name of his girlfriend into granite, a sort of pre-spray paint graffiti.

Great uncle Charles, Nellie and Mary are buried in the cemetery at Paul

I visited him last week to ask his permission to include him in my blog.

I thank my neighbour for his family history and I thank great uncle Charles.

For my next mystery can someone explain this sign carved high into a wall in Penzance?

Bike Shed 2

When I last mentioned the bike shed it was snowed in and my bike had to move into the house. Now it is back in the house again this time to avoid disturbing the lodgers, the swallows nested on the stain tin which was a great excuse not to decorate the windows. They raised five chicks that flew a week or so ago but still come back at night to roost Last year they nested on the strimmer which meant long grass all last summer. It is wonderful to watch the parents swoop out of the sky through the tiny hole I cut in the top of the door They are not the only lodgers, Mr and Mrs Sparrow have their second brood behind the windspur.
In case you are wondering about the sign on the door I liberated it from the spoil heap at Wayland Smithy on the Ridgeway, (very close to where I grew up), when Professor Atkinson was doing "restoration" work building inappropriate Cotswold stone walling between the monolithic sarsens.

The new chapter in training has started: I did 77 miles in two days last weekend and a total of 172 in the last week, including an about turn to remove this from my front tyre

Collecting Bucket

Hello Bonnie and Blue here - we are part of Peggy's back up teamWe have a beautiful field at our homeand every day friends come and play footballWe thought it would be a good way to help Peggy if we asked them to donate 20p every time they come to use the field so we put a bucket by the gate
We can have a quiet stroll around the wild flower meadow And a sit in the garden when we need a restWe get through a lot of footballsAnd after only a few months we are really pleased to have collected £24.50!!!!
Thanks to all our friends - Grace, Skye, Bracken, Monty,Maisie, Star, Hooch, Bessie and Walter. Sometimes we were too busy playing to take photos so not all of them appear here!

The bucket is still there and we will continue to collect for charity. Perhaps after September when the ride is over we will give the money for the Rescue Centre at Wheal Alfred.

A New Chapter

Time to start a new chapter.
A third of the back up team have gone to Barcelona for the duration leaving only the four legged members who are less IT literate and tend to have other things on their mindsI fear you may see a few glitches in the blog until I learn all the niceties of inserting my posts. (editors note: actually it can all be done quite easily from Barcelona as you see here!)

With only eight weeks to go the training needs to step up a notch. The official fitness programme suggests three 25 mile rides and one 35 miler in the next two weeks and then 30 and 40 mile rides but it doesn't tell you how to find time each week to do the pedalling.
The weather is not helping. But full of determination I managed a rather soggy 40 miles today around Mousehole and St Buryanmaze-like lanes around Crean Bottoms and on to Lands End and Sennen, coming back through St Just to enjoy Lafrowda Day and a yummy cream tea in the church.

An Evening Ride

My current favourite evening ride takes me around the peninsula.
Starting off posting the day’s letters in my local box on past Penzance’s triffid and heading to Battery Rocks for a swim, it is good when the tide is right for diving Thanks to Carol and Patrick the buoys are a real treat this year, the first is painted with oyster catchers and waders, the second has a mermaid and seals and the third has star fish, after that they are plain orange.
On up Paul Hill which is always a bit of a chain snapper but worth the effort and past the gate post with it’s mysterious hole After St Buryan and Crows an Wra there is a wonderful down hill swoop to the airfieldmore hills and on to St Just, a rugged little town built around the square with its healthy mix of pubs, the Co-op, two branches of Warrens and more pubs all dwarfed by the solid church tower catching the evening sunDown Nancherrow Hill and up the other side to the north coast where foxgloves are at their best, pink campions everywhere each with its face tracking the sun like mini Goonhilly dishes The little clump of orchids that I watch out for each year is doing well Turning right at Gurnards Head takes me up the last hill to home.
It’s a fantastic ride which ought to be 30+ miles but is probably only about 26.

A never to be repeated experience

I am a stubborn old cuss so once I have said I will do something I tend to do it but as the house gradually filled up with boxes full of stuff I would have happily opted out of the car boot sale. all the stuff had to be sorted into 'put out on the table first' and 'leave till later' boxes, vaguely priced, china and glass wrapped in newspaper, snoozing cats removed from boxes which were then packed into carsun-packed, re-packed and generally shuffled about in a pretty inefficient manner.
Exactly as I had been warned the vultures descended on the car before I even had the table up let alone the banner tied along the front and the balloons blown up. But the gods smiled, the torrential rain that was forecast did not materialise and the ground did not turn into a Glastonbury porridge.
The stall got set up, people foraged most things sold even the hospice balloons flapping madly in the wind on their bamboo pole and we returned with only a few boxes.
Like true amateurs we couldn't wait to count the money which looks like about £175 plus what feels like about £10 but is probably only £5 in the collecting tin before retiring for a well earned cup of coffee at the poolside cafe I reckon there is enough material in a single car boot sale for a PhD in Anthropology.
Thank you to everyone who donated stuff and to my backup team (remember them?) who made sure I did not give way to my inclination to chicken out of the whole thing.
Money raised for Cornwall Hospice Care - £176