South West Sea Kayaking

… I made earlier.

Serpentine is a stone found on Cornwall’s Lizard Peninsula in reddish or greenish varieties. The stone looks quite mundane, until you wet its surface. Only then, do you see the colourful veins in the stone which - resembling snake’s skin - give the stone its name. During the nineteenth century, this wonderful stone was popularly utilised for fireplaces and suchlike. The beach around the abandoned Serpentine Works at Polpeor Cove is strewn with polished offcuts. Searching for these can make rainy days pass by quickly.

Caught out on Cornwall’s north shore in rapidly building wind and swell, there is nowhere to run to …

… most of the time. We were very relieved to paddle in through the portals of Portreath Harbour, the only sheltered landing for at least ten miles in either direction. They were enjoying their annual fete, and serenaded our arrival at the back of the harbour with a brass band fanfare. Which was nice.

This weekend we completed the last of the ’scheduled’ paddling that needs to be done for the book, although no doubt there will be more … for the fun of it. We paddled between Dawlish Warren and Dartmouth in South Devon, a coast of remarkable contrasts (from the sublime to the amusingly tacky).

After a week of glorious weather and breathtaking scenery in West Cornwall, we were in truth feeling a little jaded and not wildly enthusiastic about making the trek to paddle in the vicinity of Torquay, in overcast gloom. We needn’t have worried. Devon - as always - provided the goods. We came home happy and fulfilled.

Today we linked the harbours at Brixham and Dartmouth …