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Steep steps up from the beach to the Minack, open-air theatre on the cliff. Pausing to catch our breath we recall dramas played out with backdrop of moonlit sea and ‘The Magic Flute’ in the rain. Granite coastline. Square jointed rock piles stand over little sandy bays, tropical-turquoise sea. Beside the path St Levan’s Well. The well water, known for treatment of eye problems and toothache, is still used for baptisms in St. Levan Church.

where holy man
blessed
tadpoles swim

On Gwenapp Head, the Coastguard Station; a notice tells us: ‘Weather fine, visibility good, wind force 3 ENE. Path dry, take care at the cliff edge’. My friend clutches my arm. On the path ahead a monstrous bird lifts up its beak, turns to look at us. Airborne it shrinks over open sea.

bell buoy
echoes
raven’s croak

The buoy marks The Runnel Stones, site of many shipwrecks. One of these, the Khyber, shattered here on the night of March 15 1905. Twenty three men from the wreck lie in a communal grave in the nearby churchyard. My companion slips on the gravelly path, rolls over several times - luckily not near the cliff edge. Turning inland we miss the path, stumble into a bog of white orchids. Fields of cows, peas, barley. A buzzard flies above, wingspan dwarfed by space of sky.

St. Levan Church, squat building of granite blocks. Behind the tower wisps of cloud radiate in all directions. The grave of the drowned from the ship Khyber. Another grave is haunted by a ship’s bell which rings the watches, those who hear it doomed to die within a year.

over the fields
we walk
the coffin path