Private_Miros, on 14 September 2020 - 01:48 PM, said:
Colander! That's the word.
Yeah, those balls look weird when just made (they dry out and stiffen up a bit in fridge), but the taste is simply amazing. It's one of my favorite nibbles, and I'm usually quite the carnivore, so that's saying a lot.
I'll read up on the preceding discuccion of this post as I think its best to not read it out of context...
2020 was supposed to be the year I finally got to go out to America, but sadly (for obvious reasons), I had to look a little closer to home. I settled on Praa Sands on the Cornish coast, as Cornwall holds a special place in my heart and the appeal of an sitting on an actual sandy beach was too good to miss. Most of my week was spent on said beach, with the surf good enough for all of Monday to be taken up with bodyboarding, something I had never tried before, but thoroughly enjoyed. Wednesday saw the biggest outing with a hike/train trip to St Ives and back, the details of which make up the content below. Overall, it was a desperately needed break from work, and I feel much refreshed and recharged from it.
Praa Sands - St Ives - Praa Sands
Wednesday saw the longest and best of all the day trips I had planned towards the end of my holiday. The main goal was to hike from Praa Sands, all the way along the South West Coastal Path to Penzance, from where I would catch the short train service to St Erth, and then connect onwards to St Ives as my final destination. Setting off at a good pace, the path loops up out of Praa Sands before heading on towards Kenneggy Cove just round the headland. The tide was in as I tracked over the cliffs above the beach so no chance for good photos, but made up for this on the return leg! Continuing on I reached the first 'checkpoint' on the route; Cudden Point. I was taken completely by surprise on arrival, as google maps suggested it would be like any other part of the path, but what you get is a completely exposed headland with superb views east and west. It's now my most loved spot in all of Cornwall! It was also the first time I realised just how far I had to walk, as Penzance was on show as a small smudge on the opposite spit of land!
Cudden Point
Penzance being the white smudge on the distant coastline!
I easily could have spent the rest of the day sat here looking at the postcard of a view, but I wanted to reach Penzance by noon, so pressed on. Looping down the extremely sharp slope from the top of Cudden Point, the path turned into something more at home in an Unchartered game.
Press X to Jump
No adders, but a wild Puffs did appear!
After that particular minigame, the path cuts towards and then through Perranuthnoe, which is a pretty insignificant little place, other than that it's roads were wonderfully smooth to walk on after the (in places), quite appalling surface of the coastal path. The other bonus, is upon leaving the village you get a wonderful view over Mounts Bay. However, issues were to come as the path just sort of...stopped. You go down a sharp set of steps onto a beach, and there's genuinely no obvious way off! The far end of the beach was blocked by the tide, and what looked like a possible path was fenced off! In the end, I doubled back, jumped a gate and cut across some farmland to get to the main road.
Where's the Path?!
Down the steps.... to nowhere!
I think the fence is where the path used to pick up again. But the cliff has sort of fallen in and it didn't look particularly passable.
Perranuthnoe and the first good look over Mounts Bay
The road leads through Marazion, which would be quite a quaint coastal town, if it hadn't become so commercialised. The reason for this 'touristy' vibe is that it overlooks/is the main starting point of St Michaels Mount, which is a just a stately home on a rock. Interestingly though, it can only be accessed at low tide, as the causeway across is otherwise covered by the sea.
Marazion and St Michaels Mount
Marazion also has one end of Long Rock Beach, aptly named because bugger me did it take forever to walk down. It's not even particularly nice to walk on either, as most of it was either covered in rotting seaweed, or made of loose shingle that you sank into despite all efforts not too. Worse though is that it only gently curves round to Penzance, giving you the distinct impression that you aren't actually getting anywhere for your walking. That said, the train station hoved into view and I made it to Penzance some 3 hours after setting off. From there it was a simple case of catching the train to St Erth and then the designated connection up to St Ives.
Choo Choo!
You can just see Cudden Point hiding behind the lamppost on the right hand side.
Now, I've heard good things about St Ives so was looking forward to visiting since I headed down to Cornwall last week. But, my god I was in for a shock...
The whole town has moved rapidly away from being a traditional working fishing port, to a 'lets sell tourist junk and extreme prices' and it was really sad to see. The huge beach right next to St Ives was almost completely empty (you get a cracking view from the train), whilst the town was absolutely crawling with people. It was too busy to enjoy as the streets are so narrow it turned into a game of collision avoidance rather than a slow wander/checking out the shops. I did however briefly stop by in 'Myrings' which is a family run sweet shop and picked up some rather tasty fudge and rock. Then it was back out into the mosh pits of the street, with ridiculous queues for pasties and coffee shops and other tack. I almost had a heart attack walking past one particular bakery as their pasties looked nothing like what they should. More like a pie than anything else. Raging! Still the 'emmets' (Cornish for 'Non-Cornish' were lapping them up and seemed blissfully ignorant, so each to their own. In total I must have spent no more than 25 minutes in St Ives and was bitterly disappointed. The most impressive thing was the size of the Seagulls, which were the same size as the spaniel sat by me on the train platform!
Tourist Trap 101 St Ives
Because it's still a working harbour it's one of the few places that's not become solely about tourism. And as such it remains quite nice!
Heckin Velociraptors
As the train pulled up to Penzance so I could begin the return leg of my trip, the first thing that was apparent was that the tide had gone out. This made walking back along Long Rock Beach much easier as I could cut across the newly revealed sand rather than fight through all the ankle breaking rocks again. This had also releveled the causeway out to St Michaels Mount and plenty of people were already making their way across by the time I reached it. The walk felt much quicker on the way back, but my pace was getting noticeably slower the further on I got. Regular snackings on the fudge I'd bought provided helpful boosts of energy to keep things rolling though. Some interesting sights were on offer, including some random castle on a hillside that I hadn't noticed on the outward hike in the morning. Looked totally out of place! Bigger problems were afoot (literally) though, as the rain had started and with quite some enthusiasm too. Given that I'd left my proper walking shoes at home and was only wearing my running shoes (with an open mesh top sole), it took the rain all of about 5 seconds to work it's way in and every step became a squelching horror. The sand I had picked up from Long Rock Beach was also rubbing badly away at my toes and right ankle, and I could feel some sizable blisters forming there. Cudden Point came back into view and was a good morale boost as it meant I wasn't too far away from Praa Sands. Also noticed two posts covered in loose change that I'd completely missed in the morning. I stuck a penny in the wood for luck and carried on. I should have put a few more coins in the post though, because as I rounded the corner overlooking Kenneggy Cove, the blister under my right toe tore itself open in a burst of excruciating pain. Reduced to a hobble, I paused overlooking the now exposed beach at Kenneggy- a shame as the path down to it has been lost, and it is quite simply is a patch of un-spoilt beauty. The pain in my foot abating slightly, Praa Sands was now just one 'corner' of headland away so pressing on I made surprisingly good time despite my rather ruined feet. Down the last stretch of hill the rain finally stopped and I could enjoy the last few moments of the hike. Having gotten back to the accommodation I opened up a bottle of St Austell brewery's 'Tribute' which is a fine ale and one I'd fully recommend to those in the area.
The Return
It's a bit hard to see, but you can just about see some people/a van going over the causeway.
Surprise Castle!
Long Rock Beach in one of the sandier parts.
Cudden Point again, on the way back this time.
Coins in posts!
Kenneggy Cove
Praa Sands itself!
The Rain/Snackings
It was worse because I could see it coming towards me, and it was travelling with some pace too!
the pearl river game was amazing imo as i managed to get a good hulldown postion and hold off 7 tanks with just 4
Spoiler
and after few minutes there was no enemy tanks in the flank and i stood on top with 2080 damage blocked.
Spoiler
Highway on the other hand was more epic as it was more about using the elements.
Spoiler
my favorite spot on the map and it has good fallback position in case you get rushed.
like i did.
128 meters and the IS does not spot me and falls victim to my farming.
and then a passing by Progetto who thinks im am not a threat to him.
well he was wrong.
rest of the enemy team just kinda died and this full HP IS-2-2 was left behind to fend for himself.
which is kinda odd in that he did not seem to care about me that much so he just kept going.
he kept going
and going.
until he could no more.
a good game but kinda dissapointed i missed one or 2 shots as that could have ment that the deal 4.5k damage as a medium mission for the T-55A could have been completed, this is the 2nd time i fall 100 points short to completing the mission and both attempts were with the Panther.
but a really nice day out in the field with the Panther.
2 weeks of uni done so far! Has started off really well, which is rather difficult not to do when less than 2 hours into dumping your stuff off you were already staring at one of your favourite birds...
Yeah so not even an hour before, I had just thrown my stuff out of the car and into my dorm room, instantly back in the car, and up here. No food in the fridge yet or anything, priorities definitely right
Phenomenal experience as always with Dotterel, this one was a juvenile from this year and was either fresh in from the Scottish Highlands or the Arctic tundra on its way to northern Africa. Likely to the be the first humans its ever encountered and was incredibly confiding.
And an image shot wider to something similar to the human eye to give a bit of context
Almost as amazing was that it wasn't alone! A Golden Plover was tagging along close to it, a bird I've seen flocks in the thousands of but have never seen one practically at my feet before -
Ravens are super common up here, absolutely love them practically being ever present fly overhead If in April you saw some viral vids of loads of goats running around a Welsh town due to how quiet it was during lockdown, well these are those same goats. Must admit they're quite intimidating when you've turned a corner and suddenly faced with a pair of them like 3m away lol, luckily they're so used to people that they don't bat an eye.
Have only managed to get out and about outside of the university town on just a handful of occasions, first time was to see some Firecrests that I was ultimately unsuccessful but bumped into yet another bunch of Great White Egrets -
Even rarer in North Wales than back home down South and yet I managed to see 4 different birds in a week Almost had a Mediterranean feeling since later that week I had my best views yet of a pair of Glossy Ibis at a different reserve - Ruff showing well at the same reserve
Stonechat
The local wildlife is incredible here, been out with the camera whenever the weathers allowed it and seen some great stuff. Storms have the potential to push stuff out at sea closer to the coast, and my local area is situated in a sheltered corridor so it can be really good at times. And it has been!
Guillemot Razorbills
Side note - when its calm the water is so pristine here that if there's any seabirds lingering about, you can actually see them feeding under the water off the pier
Goosanders
Redshanks Curlew Dunnock
And just to finish off, some landscape pics I took when coming up while still in a moving car
lots of work to do (bring in hay for the sheep, stock up the firing wood in the cellar but chop it to smoller pieces before.
thanks to cofid I stayed in our holiday flat and no huggings of mom and dad.
we still had some awesome food like a pörkelt/goulas from roebuck and wild boar
without further ado, have some pictures
Metasequoia glyptostroboides
the workshop cat
Snoot <3
I found my old legos in the holiday flat. many technics parts are missing and I sorted out a lot of broken stuff. most of the minifigs were dismantled completely
but after sorting there are still about 8kg of bricks left
Rockstar has enabled diamond loot in Casino heists. So I'd say try GTA Online out. IF you have 2 friends to heist with, because you can only empty the diamons fully with 3 people.
WaheedTheAlmighty, on 17 November 2020 - 12:09 AM, said:
Rockstar has enabled diamond loot in Casino heists. So I'd say try GTA Online out. IF you have 2 friends to heist with, because you can only empty the diamons fully with 3 people.
hit me up on discord. thursday might be good.
meanwhile my dad got a new ram for the flock of 5 sheep for "rent" for the next 3 months..
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Private_Miros, on 14 September 2020 - 01:48 PM, said:
were lapping them up and seemed blissfully ignorant, so each to their own. In total I must have spent no more than 25 minutes in St Ives and was bitterly disappointed. The most impressive thing was the size of the Seagulls, which were the same size as the spaniel sat by me on the train platform! 
Almost had a Mediterranean feeling since later that week I had my best views yet of a pair of Glossy Ibis at a different reserve -
