A-Z Challenge 2018 - British Rivers: 'F' River Fowey

I first went to the Cornish town of Fowey in 2007 just after my elder son moved there to live. 2007 also happened to be the centenary year of the birth of Daphne du Maurier.

Ferryside by the River Fowey

Ferryside was the house where Daphne wrote The Loving Spirit, her first novel. Daphne's son Kit and his family live in Ferryside today. If you look closely at the right corner of the house you should be able to make out the ship figurehead from the Jane Slade which inspired Daphne to write that first book.

Further along the Fowey estuary on the town side you will come to - 

Neptune's Point at Readymoney Cove

Daphne lived at Readymoney - not that big house - back from the beach in 1942 and 1943.

The River Fowey rises on Bodmin Moor and flows to the sea on the south coast.

Sketch map of the rivers of South Cornwall including the River Fowey

Fowey harbour was one of those on the South Coast from which invasion fleets sailed on D-Day 1944. This view looking towards the open sea, with the village of Polruan on the opposite bank, looks much more peaceful.

These days of course, visits to Fowey are made by many cruise ships.

I must say I prefer the cruises on much smaller vessels along the Fowey and from which to admire the town.

Fowey from the river

Photo attribution:

• Sketch map: 15 May 2009, by Andy F - CC BY-SA 3.0 licence.

Crossing Water - Sepia Saturday

This week's prompt is a 'Couple Crossing a River' with a boulder apparently threatening the pair's success.

It's a widely held belief that you cannot cross running water without there being consequences.

Now if you doubt that this tale is so,

I met that spook just a year ago,

Now I didn't stop for a second look,

But I made for the the bridge that spans the brook,

Cause once you cross the bridge my friends

The ghost is through, his power ends.

— The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

If I had to cross the river at Bristol I'd definitely use the suspension bridge.

Clifton Suspension Bride

The Avon is a long way down even from the road that skirts it.

Looking down from the bridge

Daphne du Maurier first saw Cornwall's River Fowey at the age of 19 when their hire car deposited  her, her mother and sisters at the foot of the hill at Bodinnick by the slipway for the ferry to Fowey.

The ferry slipway is at the centre left edge of the photo above. The house with the blue door is the house the du Mauriers were to buy and rename Ferryside and were Daphne was to write 'The Loving Spirit', the first of her novels.

I'm not a lover of ferries as the only Channel crossing I ever took (in 1959) was horrific even before we had left Calais.

The brook that our sons were threatening to jump looked much more friendly in the 1960s'.

Andrew & Adrian

The rocks did not look big enough to be stepping stones.

However some do not need any help to cross. 

Egret in the Fowey Estuary

Other damsels chose to rest on reeds beside a lake. 

Bluet Damselflies

Some just pause to drink at the water's edge with no thought of crossing.

Fawn at lakeside

But are those rocks intimidating her.

This pup has been cast adrift to make the crossing on his own.

Scout getting ready to paddle with his stick

Now grown up, he would just jump in and swim across.

We have just left him back in Michigan where he lives next to that lake. Of course we have to take a plane back across the pond. But first we have to decide whose in charge.

In the Airbus Cockpit (2013)

Do we push or pull?

Well we crossed safely again this year and now it's time for you to cross over to see what other watery treats are on offer at Sepia-Saturday-254.