It rained, I guess you will all know that, as it just about rained everywhere in Britain on Tuesday. In the morning we sat out the heavy stuff from the comfort of the boat, whilst the true grit Brits on holiday continued with their crab fishing off the harbour wall. The seagulls didn’t look too happy either. By the afternoon there was only a light drizzle, on and off, so we went exploring along toward Stepper point for a view of the Doom Bar at low tide.
Then down to Gun point and into Harbour cove, the sands of which form the Doom Bar.
According to local folklore, the Doom Bar was created by the Mermaid of Padstow as a dying curse after being shot. In 1906, Enys Tregarthen wrote that a Padstow local, Tristram Bird, bought a new gun and wanted to shoot something worthy of it. He went hunting seals at Hawker’s Cove but found a young woman sitting on a rock brushing her hair. Entranced by her beauty, he offered to marry her and when she refused he shot her in retaliation, only realising afterwards that she was a mermaid. As she died she cursed the harbour with a “bar of doom”, from Hawker’s Cove to Trebetherick Bay. A terrible gale blew up that night and when it finally subsided there was the sandbar, “covered with wrecks of ships and bodies of drowned men”.
Tomorrows highlight is a a meal in St Petroc’s Bistro, a Rick Stein restuarant.
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4 Kidneys and a Wonky Leg 