Well now, this was a killer, but oh so worth the rewards. My limbs were a bit achey from Tuesday’s foray into road running, but I ignored that inconvenient truth and headed for the rocky cliffs of the north Cornwall coast in the UK. The wind was blowing an arctic gale that morning but I felt determined to brave the elements and push myself a bit. I donned my sensible running clothes (see last 2 posts!), hat and ipod and off I went.
The first part of this 3m run is up a fairly steep cliff
I made it 1.5m to Porthtowan, but I have to admit some of the very steep parts of the cliff path became a real slog and I had to walk up those! I cursed my aching limbs. At this point I did a (planned) u-turn and ran back.
I keep forgetting to stretch after a run, so I decided to go down to Chapel Porth beach and do some stretching there, before getting in the car and heading back home (3m or so). That cliff is the first (and last) part of the run, you can see how steep it is!
But I was distracted by something that had been washed up on the beach.
It had a surreal beauty that I found completely fascinating.
I poked and prodded it
I smelt it
I inspected it
I marvelled at the structure of it
I stared in awe at the scale of it
I wished I could take something home of it.
This beautiful fin whale, 2nd largest mammal on earth, washed up on my local shore, was a wonder I would never expect to surpass on any other run.
I took a day off from running yesterday, not intentional I just kind of run out of time, but I went for a good walk, which compensated a bit. My plans for today are another road run, around 3 miles or so. Taking it easy at the moment, edging myself back into it before any serious training regimes are thought about…
That was a WHALE???? It looks mega-icky, lol! But the pics are fascinating.
I read about this in the national press and how the whale was so huge it was going to be left to let nature take her course; seeing your photos I think that is just what is happening! however it is strangely beautiful and the textures are amazing.
love the pics of the whale
you were so lucky to see such a creature
great spending some time with you as always
have a good weekend
see you next week
It was totally amazing, and such a rare thing to see here I felt very privileged. Going to run along the coast again tomorrow, so we’ll see if it’s still there
Look forward to seeing you Thurs!
Grumpy, it was icky in places! Mostly though it just felt really rubbery – there was a small piece, about the length of a forearm, that was separated so I picked it up and couldn’t believe how heavy it was. I can hear others reeling at the thought of me doing that, but I do have a fascination for dead things – usually birds and foxes, I don’t get much access to whales!!!
Christine, my son Kim says people have been cutting it up, according to the news. It did seem like a large amount of the skeleton could be missing so maybe that’s true and maybe that’s why it appears to have decayed at a rate of nots! It didn’t smell like putrefying flesh though – more like Billingsgate if you ask me!!!