Post 14/2025. Cornwall UK. The distance added up. On Wednesday, nine of us walked 12 miles, mostly on St Michael’s Way, from Carbis Bay on the Atlantic to St Michael’s Mount on the English Channel. Marty stayed home nursing a sore knee. While the eight toured the castle, I spent time in the terraced gardens.

An internet search reveals all one may want to learn about St Michael’s Mount, once a monastery, then a fortress, then a country house. Today managed by The National Trust and part of the castle still the home of the St Levan family.

Re the gardens, I quote from a brochure: “The granite rock of the Mount, the castle looming overhead, and the sea pounding the shores are the features which define and direct this garden. For many of our visitors, it is astonishing that a garden exists here, but despite the gales and salty winds, the Gulf Stream ameliorates the climate so that frosts are a rarity and the rock acts as a gigantic radiator–absorbing heat by day and releasing it at night, creating a micro-climate in which all sorts of unlikely plants flourish.”

Marty and I have visited the Island and its environs numerous times. The island’s long history and mystery draw me in. On the island one senses a delicate balance and harmony between nature and human enterprise. The Mount hosted pilgrims, many continuing to Mont St Michel in Normandy and onward to Santiago. The “journey alone was not the aim–or should not have been–” writes Professor Michelle P Brown, “but rather the virtues and devotion that motivated and were further inspired by it.”

The Mount sits on an island linked to Marazion by a tidal causeway. On Wednesday we needed to cross over and back by boat, the high tide preventing walking across the stone causeway..

Monday walk

Another longish walk from Hell’s Mouth to Hayle, with one fine stop to see the seals in Mutton Cove.

Pope Francis

The funeral for Pope Francis today commemorated the compassion, focus, direction of what’s right for the world. We watched the service on the BBC. Pastoral Pope. Shepherd, whose vision saw the Holy Spirit awakening the Church’s outreach.

Blessing and peace

-John