Cliffs and Rock Pools

Land's End
Photo: Amanda van Mulligen (c)

On our last family summer holiday we went to Cornwall, England. During the two week holiday my Dutch husband managed to astound me on a number of occasions. The Cornish coastline may as well have been Mars as far as he was concerned. Cliffs and rock pools really were alien landscapes to him.

As we stood atop the cliffs at Land's End he marvelled at the beauty of the seascape before him. The jagged rocks and the rough sea, waves forced upwards by the hurdles in their path spattering sea spray into the air, the sheer drop down to the sea off the edge of the land. It is beautiful, don't get me wrong, but I knew what I was going to see. My husband had no idea what awaited him at Land's End. He was awestruck by what he saw. He was mesmerised by nature's offerings at the end of England. It was like watching a child with candy for the first time. Bright eyes, open mouth, noises of pleasure.

Confused by his remarkable reaction to the coastal scene at Land's End, I asked him what his issue was he found so novel about the cliffs and rocks.

"We don't have cliffs and rocks like this in the Netherlands," he responded matter of factly "the country ends in flat sandy beaches."

And the penny dropped. Of course. I realised I hadn't seen a cliff or rock pool for quite a while myself. Childhood holidays along the Cornish and Devonshire coast had blinded me to the magic of an English coastline. I took them all for granted: the majestic cliffs, the small, beautiful sandy coves and bays that litter the south coast of England, the numerous caves to explore and the rock pools to scour with nets for signs of life.

Exploring rock pools on a Cornish beach
Photo: Amanda van Mulligen (c)

"This is so cool," said my husband on a beach a few days later "I've never seen a rock pool before!" My children echoed his excitement, armed with nets and buckets as they watched a little crab scurry from under a rock to find safety under seaweed. The kids jumped from one rock to the next, looking for little bodies of water hidden between them. Their joy took me back to my own childhood days on the Cornish beaches, combing rock pools with my brother. I understood then my husband's reaction to Land's End. How lucky he was to see the Cornish coastline for the first time as if through child's eyes.