Western Swells Autumn 06: Dead Man's Chest

Friday 13th, October. Not the most auspicious of days to travel on - I was awaiting the hand of fate not to be disappointed as I turned in through the gates of the Cove. It is rare to see our very own captain Jack ruffled and off kilter, but arrival saw my host ashen-faced and shaken by an ghoulish encounter with the notorious eighteenth century smuggler Captain Carter, King of Prussia. I turned to heartly reviving his spirits with drafts of the finest Total Blackout at the hearth of the Falmouth Packet. It soon became clear that it was not so much the eerie encounter with this ghostly apparition, and his far from haunting wife, but that the fact that they had cruelly relieved him of a chestful of shiny dubloons - more ales were ordered. Despite the evil portent subsequent days of late-summer sunshine matched the glassy Atlantic swell which lazily rolled in. Many happy hours were spent on favourite sands, empty and enjoying a well-earned rest after the frenzied humm of summer. My thanks to Pete and Hannah for their warm and generous hospitality, and a pleasure to meet their new arrival the lovely Isolde. It was with a heavy heart that the road home was trodden.