Life on a beach and on a ramble. Same beach different weather today set us up for a swim in conditions that were more appropriate for surfing, but we were not going to be stopped two days in a row.

We found a secret path and a hidden river. But mostly we just found big, crashing, exciting waves.

And beautiful spume. The swim was exhilarating.

The morning swim and the bacon bap that followed were the fuel for an afternoon of footpath rambling in Feock.

https://www.feockpc.com/feockparishwalks

Spring Flowers were the main feature of our walk but these stepping stones were the stand out image of the day, caught, as they were in a brief moment of sunshine.

Perambulating and pondering the plants and the pandemic with friends filled a lovely afternoon of delicious earthy smells.

And a surprising, little known, fact. Kissing gates are not for romance.

On the footpaths that follow the ancient paths around Feock there are many ‘Kissing’ style gates. Primarily this style of gate enables easy access and egress to a heavily laden human using only one hand while keeping livestock safely enclosed. The word Kissing could simply be a descriptive of the mechanics and structure of the gate where moving the gate allows the movable part to touch, or kiss, either side of the boundary. Almost certainly the name is not historically used for the meeting of lips. More prosaically the name is most likely derived from Kisting, an old word for casket. Kissing gates were originally designed to allow coffins to respectfully be moved across boundaries without the need to place the deceased on the ground. Old kissing gates are found on footpaths near to old grave yards, in all directions, which makes the original purpose a much more plausible one than a chaste place to lock lips.