Sitting on the edge of the Rock, feet dangling over the side, a 66ft drop below me I looked out across the still sleeping villages of Roche and Bugle and wondered how much will change literally overnight with the latest Government briefing about easing the lockdown.
Now I'm not about to make this blog political, this is a place for calm and enjoyment, I think we're all getting an overload of news and political debate in the current time, this blog should be an escape from all of that. I do however wonder what the latest briefing will mean for Cornwall and many other rural communities now that people can travel without restriction. I guess my thoughts are like everyone elses, apprehension, fear, hope! As I precariously sit there looking out at the morning mist which is starting to disperse with the rising sun I realise my worries aren't of government legislation or restrictions but more of the attitude and common sense of people, as someone once said "common sense isn't that common" sadly i think they might be correct. For this morning and this moment however all is calm, there are no cars and no people around, horses graze in the field below, the cricket pitch has an eerie mist covering the wicket and the North coast is still in darkness as the South coast starts to glow with the impending sun.
Its 5:43am I've been up since 4.:45am when my internal body clock jolts me awake despite me not needing to be up for any particular reason, I have been thinking recently about getting up and watching the sunrise so here's my chance. So up I get, quick breakfast and I'm off out and walking up through the village. Usually at this time there would be cars going past, dog walkers doing their rounds, delivery drivers stopped outside shops, but today I saw no one, not a single soul in the 0.78 mile walk (my watch tracks all this) from my home to the Rock. When i get to the granite sty the Rock is still in darkness, the air is cold and the granite feels icy to touch and slippery under foot. I dig out my torch and walk through the undergrowth, being careful not to step on any snakes or any other nasty deposits left by the wild cattle which frequent the area. The bushes and grass areas are starting to overgrow due to the lack of people visiting and the recent good weather giving it a growth spurt. The morning dew dampens my shorts and bare legs and the gorse bushes scratch at my shins as I sweep through the wet grass and clamber up the first set of rocks.
For anyone reading this far and wondering just exactly I'm talking about when I say the Rock, I mean this.
Its a 66 foot high a large granite outcrop. On top of Roche Rock are the ruins of an old chapel which is said to have been the abode of a leper or a monk. The chapel was built in 1409 and is dedicated to St Michael. There is local folklore which claims that a hermit and his daughter lived there and also that the last people to live here were local people who had leprosy and stayed here so as to not infect the people of the village, so I guess its a good place to be at the moment!
Once over the first small granite boulders I get to the first set of ladders. They're old and slightly rusty but still in good enough condition not to worry about them breaking away from the rock. At the top of these is the entrance to the first floor of the chapel. The wind whistles through here and its very cold. Inside is a hollow room with no ceiling, above me is another doorway and to the right is a tiny window. There is another set of metal ladders in the corner of the room which i climb and the step across to the doorway of the next level. Through this doorway are steps taking me back outside the chapel to the top of the Rock, here I can see for miles in every direction. At the top level I can walk to each side and look down onto the bottom floor of the chapel. The arched window frame still stands at the top level of the chapel and the sun is rising through it.
I go back to the East side of the top floor and climb out on to the edge facing the main part of the village. Below me are three horses grazing in the grass, to my right the mist is settled in the valley between Roche and Bugle and to my left are the cricket ground and football pitch. I take my phone out and try to capture a timelapse of the sun coming up on the horizon. The sky is already full of colour as the sun starts to rise, its bright red in colour.
I move myself closer to the edge and just sit to watch, knowing my phone will be catching the whole thing. Its surprising how quickly the light moves across the land, like someone is slowly open the curtains on the day. The light covers the ground quickly giving the fields and flowers colour and the birds reason to chime in a little louder. Once the sun is up I go back to my phone to see how well it looked sped up in a timelapse only to find my phone face down on the rock having been knocked over by the wind, i think the younger generation call this an epic fail. I get a few more photos before I make my way back down. I stopped halfway down the second set of ladders to get a photo of the bright sun.
Walking back home through the village the scene wasn't a lot different, I passed a couple of people out for a walk and some shops starting to get ready for another day. We are living through a strange time, in the years and decades to come people will talk of this period and how people coped and how the day to day life was. Everybody handles it differently, some frozen by fear, some ambivalent, understandably with the amount of information going around, some choose to carry on in a que sera sera manner, whatever you're doing and however you're handling it just remember that no one knows the right way. The best thing you can do to protect others is to protect yourself and then trust that others will protect you by protecting themselves too. If in doubt share the goodness in people and look for the goodness in yourself, there is more than enough negativity around, don't listen to it, don't share it and don't add to it. Make the ever evolving choice to be better and to do better for everyone. I try to follow this advice as best I can, limit my time on my mobile, avoid the news, never buy newspapers, get outside as much as possible, there's very little that Vitamin D can't help and just generally try to give myself some time without distractions, like sitting on the edge of Roche Rock for an hour or so while it seems the rest of you were tucked up under your duvets. This is of course just some of my advice, which can be taken and absorbed or just ignored. If you want some real advice then listen to the song I've chosen to accompany this blog, release 21 years ago and the advice is as good today at it was then, stay safe and see you up the road.
Music - Baz Luhrmann - Everybodys Free to Wear Sunscreen
Comments