Distance covered today: 18.2km (11.3mi)
Last night's B&B: The Harbour Inn, Porthleven
% Complete: Cumulative distance: 52.0%: 527km
Total Ascent/Total Descent: 734m/754m
GPS satellite track of today's route: Day 29 (click!)
With sombre news filtering through from the Middle East, amidst upwardly ratcheting tension amongst the Great Powers, I set off in contemplative mood this morning. The way ahead led me through a succession of nature reserves, unique in their combination of moorland and cliff edge fauna and flora, but not particularly spectacular by the extraordinarily high standards of the Coast Path. Also the extraordinarily cool spring has delayed the expected explosion of floral magnificence, so I processed through a strangely khaki environment, in almost total solitude. Time to think as well as walk, if you will excuse the references both to the title of this drivel and to the military.
I decided that the thing that has surprised me most overnight is Theresa May's decision to commit the UK to action in Syria, without reference to Parliament. It seems to me to be out of character, given her track record of compromise and a search for consensus, at least in her own party, in other policy areas. Many commentators have suggested that we are returning to a world of "big man" politics. The evidence of Putin, Erdogan, Trump and especially Xi all point to this worrying development, since we all know what happened the last time and the time before that.
This led me to reflect on a BBC interview I heard a couple of weeks ago with Mr Neil MacGregor; him late of the British Museum and creator of the finest BBC series I have ever encountered; "A History of the World in 100 Objects". He is currently setting up a museum in Berlin, and of course talking to a lot of influential and intellectual Germans. He said that the view he most commonly encountered was a sense of incredulity that Britain had opted for a referendum on the Brexit issue, rather than a decision by parliament. He said that the Germans, twice bitten, had developed a great affection for Britain and an even greater respect for the fact that the Brits had essentially established for the world the principle of representative democracy. This hard fought battle in the seventeenth century and its subsequent development was probably Britain's greatest gift to the world.
Of course they understand that Cameron was acting under other party pressures and, in any case, he expected to win the referendum. But the underlying tendency towards relying on popular opinion, leading to populism, and on the other hand elsewhere,"big men" leading to autocracy, certainly seems to be gaining ascendancy yet again.
All of which begs the question whether Parliament really does reflect the mood of the mass of the people (90% of British MPs went to university. More than 50% of the electorate didn't). All I know is that some of the biggest bosses in my company made the biggest mistakes in my time there, and although the "experts" weren't always right, those that really listened to the market and their own staff tended to make the right decisions. I worry that the current generation of movers and shakers regard the convulsions of the twentieth century as ancient history. My generation learned of it from their parents. My father told me about what it felt like to be in the Eighth Army in North Africa; my mother described her experience of the Blitz. I can't do the same. Surely we should worry!
The khaki colours of the Lizard peninsula, and not least the constant scream of military aircraft overhead, emanating from the local RAF airfield, as well as the constant flow of helicopters did little to reassure me. My mood changed though, as I reached the southern-most point of mainland Britain. I chanced on Kynance Cove, where German Prince Albert took his children for recreation while Queen Victoria looked after the office. It is a lovely spot, overrun by trippers on this Easter holiday weekend, but despite their urban footwear being inadequate against the glass-smooth slate of the local rocks, they all seemed happy and optimistic.
Perhaps I'm wrong......
I decided that the thing that has surprised me most overnight is Theresa May's decision to commit the UK to action in Syria, without reference to Parliament. It seems to me to be out of character, given her track record of compromise and a search for consensus, at least in her own party, in other policy areas. Many commentators have suggested that we are returning to a world of "big man" politics. The evidence of Putin, Erdogan, Trump and especially Xi all point to this worrying development, since we all know what happened the last time and the time before that.
This led me to reflect on a BBC interview I heard a couple of weeks ago with Mr Neil MacGregor; him late of the British Museum and creator of the finest BBC series I have ever encountered; "A History of the World in 100 Objects". He is currently setting up a museum in Berlin, and of course talking to a lot of influential and intellectual Germans. He said that the view he most commonly encountered was a sense of incredulity that Britain had opted for a referendum on the Brexit issue, rather than a decision by parliament. He said that the Germans, twice bitten, had developed a great affection for Britain and an even greater respect for the fact that the Brits had essentially established for the world the principle of representative democracy. This hard fought battle in the seventeenth century and its subsequent development was probably Britain's greatest gift to the world.
Of course they understand that Cameron was acting under other party pressures and, in any case, he expected to win the referendum. But the underlying tendency towards relying on popular opinion, leading to populism, and on the other hand elsewhere,"big men" leading to autocracy, certainly seems to be gaining ascendancy yet again.
All of which begs the question whether Parliament really does reflect the mood of the mass of the people (90% of British MPs went to university. More than 50% of the electorate didn't). All I know is that some of the biggest bosses in my company made the biggest mistakes in my time there, and although the "experts" weren't always right, those that really listened to the market and their own staff tended to make the right decisions. I worry that the current generation of movers and shakers regard the convulsions of the twentieth century as ancient history. My generation learned of it from their parents. My father told me about what it felt like to be in the Eighth Army in North Africa; my mother described her experience of the Blitz. I can't do the same. Surely we should worry!
The khaki colours of the Lizard peninsula, and not least the constant scream of military aircraft overhead, emanating from the local RAF airfield, as well as the constant flow of helicopters did little to reassure me. My mood changed though, as I reached the southern-most point of mainland Britain. I chanced on Kynance Cove, where German Prince Albert took his children for recreation while Queen Victoria looked after the office. It is a lovely spot, overrun by trippers on this Easter holiday weekend, but despite their urban footwear being inadequate against the glass-smooth slate of the local rocks, they all seemed happy and optimistic.
Perhaps I'm wrong......
The lovely harbour at Mullion Cove
Mullion Island, made of lava that erupted from the seabed 350 million years ago is apparently the most important nesting site for birds on the Lizard peninsula.There be Shags, Cormorants, and Greater Black-backed Gulls, but I was in too much of a hurry to see any of them
Mullion Cove Hotel with the Poldhu Cove care home receding into the distance. Such stately architectural presences. Impossible in current circumstances!
A coast-guard helicopter, taking off from the nearby Predannack military airfield
At long last, some sunshine lighting up the sea, but it wasn't to last!
Mostly it was khaki ups and downs in the grey fog. Just visible is the path up the next cliff
An occasional brilliantly colourful cove
Over much of the way through the nature reserves, there was no discernible path. Reminiscent of a khaki version of the South Downs
At last, the Lizard hoves into view
But first, Kynance Cove, where Prince Albert took his kids and where there are now many visitors...
Lizard Point, but typical of Cornwall,not the southern-most point. Just a point!!
At last, the southern-most point of mainland Britain: that rocky protrusion on the right
The disused RNLI lifeboat station at Lizard
A welcome break amidst the trippers
The Lizard lighthouse, now unmanned. The foghorn bleated throughout my walk and was echoed off all the surrounding cliffs with amazing clarity
As if I didn't have enough to worry about!
And indeed, worry I should!
Once upon a time, before radio, these stations sent important visual messages from ship to shore and back, relaying critical information about maritime and financia affairs
Now, the National Coastwatch watches out for problems at sea on a voluntary basis
Love on the rocks! (or as I later discovered in conversation, not so much. Actually, a happy couple!)
Whaaat?
Another diversion! The rockfall is easily evident
A tunnel to the sea
Cadgwith Cove, my splendidly preserved Cornish village destination
No comments:
Post a Comment