Category: Devils Point

#1421 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Beach Life, Devils PointLeave a comment
©theoldmortuary

This is a beach near home that I never swim at. It is the nearest usable and accessible beach to the pointiest portion of Devils Point. The seven currents and fast-flowing water of constantly changing tides give the area its name. I don’t believe it is safe for anything more immersive than a paddle. The name is the warning. ow You will note that there was enough weak sunlight to create a sharp shadow this morning.

©theoldmortuary

Day 42 and as yet no rain…

This is the first time I have been to this beach in 2026. Perpetual rain has made me keep my head and eyes down with no wavering from my planned walk. I have even failed to register my favourite clump of daffodils until today. Traditionally they start blooming around New Years Day. I suspect they were later this year.

A day with a startling amount of yellow and no rain as yet.  A yellow letter day! The rain arrived at 5 pm the evening dog walk returned to a determined walk with productivity in mind . No more ambling between rocky beaches and daffodils.

43 days with rain

#1342 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Devils Point, SerendipityLeave a comment

The Hamoaze from The Royal William Yard.

Looking out to Cornwall from the Royal William Yard last night we could see the tides and currents that give Devils Point its name. 7 currents converge here.They are really easy to see with the naked eye. All but invisible with a simple phone camera, but by just adding a bit of extra colour I can show the complexity of these waters.

Sir Francis Drake made Devils Point famous by making a pact with the witches and demons of the area to create a storm that would incapacitate the Spanish Armada. Other versions are available.

There must be something about the waters around here. I tend to take my demons with me when I swim nearby and then cast them off as I enter the chilly waters. It works every time.

Demon Casting at the tidal pool.

What3words even allows me a small mantra to call up my own wizard for dealing with rivals/demons at my most regular swimming spot.

Something rather devilish about these parts

#1237 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Devils Point, Firestone Bay, pondering, Serendipity2 Comments
Do I have the measure of you?                 I do.   ©theoldmortuary

I thought I had the measure of yesterday. About 5 hours of admin for two organisations that I work for. Some dog walking and some domestica. Serendipity however made those things happen alongside some lovely pondering. My early dog walk gave me a rare moment on the most popular beach nearby. For once it was deserted and I could get one of my ‘bad’ photographs to play around with later in the day.

The sun was up, the dogs were happy and I could perch on the drying rocks contemplating my day. But I was not alone, just at the point where the high tide had turned last night, there was a gathering of memorial flowers and some ashes. Someone else had not quite left the beach.

©theoldmortuary

Just a small bunch of yellow roses signifying all the love and sorrow of an unknown person’s death. Somewhere in this Hybrid Printmaking image, of a spring morning at the tidal pool, these flowers create a little bit of the texture that makes this picture what it is.

Springtime at the Tidal Pool.  ©theoldmortuary.

#932 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Devils Point3 Comments
Tidal Pool, Devils Point, Stonehouse.

I had a weird dream last night, a dream of no consequence but it left me with a puzzle. What do you call a place that you end up that was not your planned destination?

“I set off for X but ended up in Y instead.

When X = Destination what does Y =?

In my dream the answer  ‘Somewhere else’ didn’t work and neither did giving either place an actual name. The key to getting out of whatever pickle I was in, was a one word answer.  I never found one. Waking up turned out to be the only way out of that particular nightmare.

Tidal Pool, Devils Point, Stonehouse.

My camera phone has updated one piece of photo editing software. The erasing tool is now much more accurate but the other new feature took a simple image  somewhere very interesting. Not my intended destination at all. Somewhere else completely. If only I had a one word answer.

The funny thing is that following the recent art exhibition I was wondering quite where to take my art practice.

Cold Water swimmer projected to a massive size at Devonport Market Hall.

An exhibition always feels like a bit of an endpoint. Maybe that is what the dream was always about perhaps all this pondering on a non-existent word will help. Who could possibly guess where I will be off to next.

Coldwater Swimmer at the Tidal Pool.

#138 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn art, Coffee Hunters, Devils Point, Serendipity2 Comments

A blustery weekend and some cancelled plans gave me some more time to catch up with my art course homework. This was a colour note for a blustery walk on Sunday. Storm Franklin was an altogether more blustery affair than Eunice. Franklin had blustered into the local Primary school and set off the burglar alarm. Crashing waves and the cries of Oyster catchers with a side serving of persistent electronic noise was not quite the coastal idyll I was planning to record and paint, but it is the combination I was gifted. The mellow dark notes were provided by a deeply, fruity, cup of black coffee. Black coffee is my drink of choice, now, for coastal walks, after two separate incidents of having the frothy top of a flat white splattered onto my face. I’m not a fan of drinking good coffee through a plastic lid. Thus the weekend map of my walking experience has two man made colour memories and four natural ones all combined to suggest the booming of a storm, the sound of Oyster Catchers and the irritating pulse of a triggered alarm system all interacting with a swirling seascape. This image just represents a tiny moment of time, all senses disturbed by powerful gusts of wind.

#101 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Devils Point, SerendipityLeave a comment

Defiantly red on the 3rd Monday of January. Traditionally the Blue Monday of the Northern hemisphere. Maybe it should be the Blue, blue Monday as the world marks nearly two years of Covid restrictions. We are all a little tatty round the edges regardless of the day. Maybe Blue Monday has lost its bite in the pandemic as life has progressed so long with a slightly blue tinge.

Bucking the blue trend as well was Miss Spearmint who is very assertively making sure the local beach is closed for the day by resting on the steps. Yet enhancing the day by spreading out her tail flipper to show off her lovely pink webs.

© Debs Bobber

#100 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Devils Point, Serendipity1 Comment

#100 a late blog, not for complicated reasons. More weather related, we woke up to sunshine this morning and just felt the need to walk in sunshine and harvest Vitamin D while it was still an option.

The bright sunlight did provide some lovely complicated images though.

Fennel seed heads, shadows and repaired, cracked masonry.

Our walk just took in really familar territory at a ponderous speed and lots of basking in pools of daylight.

Cast iron railings, shadows and masonry

Nearly four hours of walking required two stops for coffee, and of course a wee.

Complicated shadows and textures outside a loo.

We were not the only ones having a bask. Miss Spearmint was also making the most of the sunshine.

As were the Cormorants.

And then just like that nature turned the lights off …

Rusty downpipe and masonry.

#97 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Devils Point, SerendipityLeave a comment

Very close to sunrise and Spearmint, the seal keeps a watchful eye on a paddleboarder. She escorts him out of the water but decides not to clamber up the slope that he uses to exit the water. Instead she decides to swim off to a nearby swimming beach.

Just moments later with the sunrise properly established she finds a beach with several swimmers. All the swimmers know not to be in the water with her and step away from their proposed swims.

Spearmint takes a few moments to bask in the rising sun.

And have a bit of a morning face wash with her flippers.

The swimmers all managed to sneak into the water on the far side of the beach and swam as she settled down for a sleep.

Its been a long two months without much sun. Sunrise and a seal is a lovely way to start the day.

#80 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Devils Point, Home1 Comment
Tranquility Bay

Three years ago I took this picture of a beach on 27/12/2018. Not in my wildest imagination did I think that I would become a year round swimmer from this beach, or that I would ever live just a short walk from here. It feels like yesterday. Not so very far over that blue horizon was an almost two year long, life altering and time warping Pandemic. It all feels quite unbelievable.

#62 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Advent, Devils Point, Serendipity, Street Art1 Comment

Good morning Miss Spearmint. We had a long walk this morning which ended up near to our swimming beach. Miss Spearmint had taken up residence to digest her fishy breakfast so there were very few swimmers and everyone was advised not to swim or interact with her. Recently a marine mammal charity has set up a swimmers/walkers whatsapp group for the whole of Plymouth Sound which pinpoints where she is swimming,or hauled out so that people can avoid interacting with her. On the whole it seems to be working.Unfotunately though Miss Spearmint does still crave the company of humans which is not good for her.

Before Miss Spearmint hijacked this blog I was going to natter on about retail counters. Not the sort that are so busy in the general run up to Christmas but one that no longer exists.

I found this sign this morning on the earlier part of my walk as I explored an undeveloped area of the Royal William Yard. This picture has everything that I love. Rust, peeling paint and mystery. A mystery that could be revealed if only we had the ledger that holds the codes for 15.SI.

Really close to this beautiful door is some very contemporary deliberate graffiti which brings a little colour to the blog which Miss Spearmint and a faded door have failed to do. I will end on a bright note!