Boscastle

Boscastle Harbour

I woke this morning to news headlines that had the unusual effect of making me sit up and take notice. Rarely does anything cause me to turn the television on at this early hour of the day but the news that Boscastle in North Cornwall has suffered devastating flash floods is one of those occasions.

Boscastle is a place very dear to me. At about age eight my parents took us on the annual family fortnights holiday to a place a mile or two away from Boscaslte called Trebarwith Strand, a tiny village on the rugged North Cornish coast. It was here I was introduced to the massive tides the area is famous for and my lifelong fascination and love of the ocean began. The holiday remains sharp in my mind to this day. We stayed in a cottage cut into the cliff overlooking the sea, I did all the childhood things, played on the beach, walked the cliffs and learnt to surf but my greatest memory was high tide. At high tide the beach would disappear under massive waves crashing against the cliff face and I would sit with my siblings, in a spot designated safe by my ever watchful parents and watch the waves for hour upon hour...... I had only ever seen flat, safe beaches and seas before and I was absolutely entranced by the power and beauty of this new experience.

This place became 'my heaven' despite being almost 400 miles from home and when all my contemporaries progressed to international travel and holidays abroad I would spend every possibly break and holiday back on 'my rocks' sea watching. I spent so much time in the area that I became involved with the local village life and made some very good friends with whom I remain in contact. To this day, despite living where I do surrounded by beautiful scenery every day, Boscastle and Trebarwith remain my personal heaven.

So to hear the news this morning that Boscastle has suffered devastating flash floods, resulting in one of the biggest rescue operations of it's kind in the UK was one of those news items that made me turn on the tv and sent my heart rushing into my mouth. The thought of such devastation in such a historic and beautiful place is horrendous. Boscastle sits at sea level at the mouth in a picturesque small harbour cut into a steep valley. It is surrounded on three sides by immense cliffs and so when 2 inches of rain fell in an hour (equivalent of a months normal rainfall for the area)as it did yesterday afternoon, it is not hard to see how this catastrophe could happen. Thus far there are no reported fatalities but there remain 15 people unaccounted for and given the level of visitors to the area at this time of year the tracing of those individuals I imagine will be hampered.

We hear of terrible incidents of destruction day after day in this media driven world but when it happens a place you love and know so well it suddenly forces a stark awareness of the true cost to those involved of such disasters. I can't imagine the upset for those who's lives will have been turned upside down or quite comprehend the destruction, in a few minutes, of beautiful buildings that have stood for hundreds and hundreds of years.

The Cornish people are a stoic breed, more used than most to the severe conditions nature throws at them and will recover.... but today it is a sad day.