Pittman brothers head for Timbuctu

Having signed up for next year's Plymouth to Dakar challenge, the 'Crabby Crusaders', brothers Neville and Richard Pittman are hoping to raise at least £1000 for the RNMDSF when they drive a 16 year old Vauxhaul Frontera to Timbuctu! The brothers run a successful local crab processing company, Sea Food and Eat It!

Lotte and okra

In Brittany, monkfish are known as lotte. A simple dish with okra and the ever-faithful Mae Ploy greeen Thai curry paste can be made in minutes - check out the recipe courtesy of James Martin from BBCs's Saturday Kitchen.....
a regular buyer on the market at newlyn come hail or snow.......
a spotless deck under the shelter aboard the crabber Dom Bosco.

A lonesome box

Down on the beach at Sandy Cove the bass are being lured with this beauty....
slowly but surely there's a transformation taking place with the Emma.....
not too many of these about at the moment......
lending a hand to land shellfish is Robin Turner, a man who's obvioulsy not afraid to wear pink......
Wednesday morning saw a market almost devoid of fish as most of the fleet are away to sea....
you could be forgiven for thinking we live in the tropics sometimes....

looking very light in the water, the Cap Frehel from Morlaix arrived in the ealry hours.

A little diversion

Roadworks make the journey along the front past Newlyn Green impssible at present....
despite the inclement weather work on the 20 fathom trawl continues with judicious use of heavy duty cable ties to secure the fishing line to the footrope....
dredgers taking a break on passage are the Atlantic.....
and the Albion, another barge type vessel sporting a deck mounted bucket excavator.....

inland the heavy rain and windy conditions are evident on the road surface water.

Discarded fish video makes headline news

LK 986, the Copious (sister vessel to the Prolific) from Shetland was filmed from a Norwegian Coastguard vessel dumping around 5 tons of blackjacks (saithe/coley) just outside the Norwegain Sector. Forced to fish away from traditional grounds the boat made a good shot that included blackjacks but they cannot land these as they have no quota and are therefore forced to dump them - but dumping is illegal in Norwegain waters and has been for years, the boat then steamed back into English waters before dumping - yet again highlighting the seemingly illogical and immoral quota system that forces fishermen to discard perfectly good fish for which they hold no quota.

Of wind and windfalls

With the harbour quiet and most of the fleet sheltering from the weather other seasonal events come to the fore. Plenty of wind arrived on Saturday night which meant that orchards all over Cornwall were littered with windfalls - befitting then that Trellissick Gardnes near Truro should be hosting their annual Apple Days in the stable block.....
where local residents bring in apples to be identified by head gardner and apple expert John Harris.....
these Ben's Reds, originally local to Penzance were just a few of over 100 varieties of eaters, cookers and cider apples on show from orchards in Cornwall and beyond.....
to aid apple fans the orchard in Trellissick has every tree identified with a tag.....
and visitors get the chance to sample fresh apple juice from a press that has been in use for over 100 years......
the resident Cornish Black pig is a big fan of fallen fruit and devours the freshly pressed apples with relish.....
walking around the gardens is an education in itself as at every step all trees, flowers and shrubs are clearly labelled....
open till 5.30pm at this time of year....
the house itself with its ( which some might describe as, over-the-top) neo-classical front.....
has a superb view out to sea over Carrick Roads and out to Pendennis Head....

in the grounds is this unusual house conversion, in fact the old water tower that can now be rented out from the National Trust.