Cornwall: Padstow and Porthcothan Bay

Note: This post is the third in a series about my travel to Cornwall.
The rest in the series are listed below
1. Cornwall: One more time
2. Cornwall: Boscastle

A view from Porthcothan Bay, after the sunset

Padstow is a small town and a fishing port. The quayside is the centerpiece for tourists. Finding a parking space near the quay is difficult. I park the car farther away from the quayside and walk. By the time I reached Padstow, it was dinner time. Since it was summer, the sun had not gone down yet. The quayside was crowded. The lights were on even though the sun had not gone down. It would have been a beautiful sight when the skies become darker with the exit of the sun.

The smell of delicious food was floating in the air. The place was dynamic. There were a lot of people sitting down to take in the beauty of the area while others were walking around the fishing port aimlessly.  Watching the dynamism at play, I realized my mistake. Padstow is not the place for a quick stopover. It is the ideal place to sit down by the quayside and enjoy the breeze. It is also the place where you have a leisurely dinner followed by a stroll by the harbor. There was happiness in the air. The faces and banter in the background confirm the joy of the visitors.

Realizing our mistake, we made new plans. We will proceed to Newquay. Although I had been to Newquay before, there were a couple of other places near Newquay which looked interesting. Very soon, we were in one of the B roads again. I am not sure how I ended up on the B road. It may be due to a delayed reaction to an upcoming turn or the best route suggested by Waze app. The narrow and winding but they were was scenic. While taking a turn, my wife noticed a sandy beach. The sun was setting on the horizon, and the view was like a painting. Since the image was something to die for, we turned around when it was safe to do so, found a parking and ran to the beach.

The sun had set by the time we reached the beach. I had miscalculated the time it takes for the sun to disappear altogether. When I took caught the first glance of setting sun, I thought I would at least have 20 minutes. But I was wrong. Never hesitate for you might not get the opportunity again. I told myself. There was still hope as the setting sun had spilled a lot of colors on the horizon. The sky was filled with shades of red and yellow as if the painter had decided to spray the paint instead of rolling the brush on the canvas. 

For a moment, I was transported to a vacation at my grandmother's home. One evening, my aunt, my mom's sister, pointed to the sunset and picked out the colors, red and yellow, for me. It was the first time I saw the nature's painting skills. The next distinct memory of a horizon painted with red and yellow was the view of Salt Lake City while driving eastwards on I-80. All these came to me in a sudden rush. When my mind picked up each of these memories, the rush stopped, and I was cloaked in a warm feeling of stillness. I felt at peace. 

I ended up in this road by chance and had the fortitude to change plans with an unscheduled stop. After enjoying the sunset, we went back to the hotel in Plymouth. We were too tired for Newquay. We had already decided to visit Land's End, the most westerly point in Cornwall and England. But before reaching the end of the world, we will stop briefly at The Minack Theater and Porthcurno beach.