See All art Posts
See All design Posts
See All Featured Posts
See All food Posts
See All Locations Posts
See All Marketing Posts
See All music Posts
View Post

Car Park Attendant

Some years ago I was working on a film on the south bank in central London, it was about this time of year. We would begin just before light, so very early starts. London was going through a heatwave at the time and the sun bouncing off the Shell Building turned Jubilee Gardens into a crucible. It was so hot …

View Post

First day of summer

Yesterday we awoke to a warm morning, clear skies and no wind. By nine a.m. it was hot, the tide pulled off the shore and onto the banks and we had the bay to ourselves. With Richard McGonigal, Chris Hartop, and Vik Sell

View Post

A spring weekend

This weekend has been a taste of summer, with warm sunny days and a good swell. I was in London working with Reef and had a great skate with Jack Bessant through the streets and along the banks of the Thames. The band played two gigs, on Friday and Saturday in West London. The shows were to celebrate Reef 93 …

View Post

February Fog

Saturday and the wind pulled round to southerlies, offering a warm wind and a decent swell size and period. Taking a trip up the coast I drove through fog, low cloud and bright sunshine almost every few minutes. There were a few guys in at the point sharing some mid size waves. It was great to watch them in the …

Midwinter Blues

December and early January saw a weather pattern that remained in place for weeks. Storms heading south from high in the North Atlantic swept straight across the country, and we on the west coast seemed to take the brunt of it. Huge seas with such strong winds that the sea scape was a swirling mix of white, greys and blues. …

View Post

And still swells keep pouring in

This has been one of the best runs of surf I can remember, with autumn swells back to back and the predominant wind from the south. Warm temperatures have remained constant, and every few days the swell picks back up and the points, bomboras and sheltered spots light up again. This is from last weekend, a seldom breaking wave that …

See All Photography Posts
View Post

Sunday Smiles

Last Sunday (October 2nd) was the end of a superb run of fine weather and good surf. The last days of September all began with warm damp dawns, the stillness and clear skies a portent of the heat to come. The bushes full of bursting blackberries, the grasses wet with dew, and the light soft with a fine mist. As …

European Fish Fry 2011

Crackington Haven recently hosted this annual event attracting surfboard shapers from across the surfing world. A small village on the North Cornish coast, buffeted by wind and sea attracted visitors from afar as California and Italy who enjoyed the hospitality and culture of an alternative surfing scene among the high cliffs and coves.  The Fish design is generally under six …

Neil T Butler

two art blogs in a row- It goes to show that the North Coast of Cornwall is well favoured by creatives as well as surfers. I first met Neil at an exhibition of his work in Bude a couple of years ago, I was struck by his figurative work and the drama in the people he paints. The figures are …

Richard Bull

I recently met Richard on the beach at Crackington. I recognised his excellent beard, he was staying nearby, surfing and enjoying the coastline. He came round to ours for dinner with his wife, we ate sea bass fillets, crushed celeriac and steamed purple sprouting broccoli with a lemon hollandaise. Plenty of chablis kept the conversation flowing from skating, art, music …

The Earth’s Sharp Edge

Making a Tagine in my last post awoke a set of recollections of the desert that had lain dormant for many years. I contemplated on how the open sky and still landscape can affect you profoundly. How you can be alienated by the culture, so self sufficient and unwestern. I have seen fellow travellers succumb to mental health issues. It …

Asymmetric 9’6 Royal

Rob Royal is a superb shaper of atypical craft- pigs, simmons, longboards and singlefins are created with line, colour and form, you should check his sites: http://www.royalsurfboards.com/ http://royalsurfboards.blogspot.com/ This one is a narrow 9’6 asymmetric, half pintail, half roundtail. As a goofyfoot I’m loving the feel going from rail to rail. Hoping to ride it on a bigger day. I …

See All sliding Posts
See All travel Posts
See All Uncategorized Posts
See All video Posts

Barnstaple to Hong Kong by train

A couple of years ago I was talking to my friend over a pint and discussing the best way to get to the far eas. Ostensibly it was to go surfing, he mentioned that one might be able to take a train from our local station to a regional budget flight hub in the far east for onward travel to …

a very english street party

Anna recently moved into a 1930’s street. Yesterday there was a street party for the royal wedding. To visit her we drove through an empty town, and as we approached the residential streets the quiet was uncanny. No cars. Wide streets. We parked nearby and walked under the flapping bunting up the road. It was early and all the houses …

Strangers Passing/Chateau La Dominique

He wakes in the predawn gloom, the tent sagging with wet. light rain draining in lines down the blue fabric. the black plastic floor cold, damp, and bare. It is the second day working in the vineyard. He is tired, yesterday had been a long, hungry day. His clothes are damp beside him. His trainers lay between the inner and outer tent ruined. He …

The Fragility of Tyrants

I posted this last week on the fall of Ben Ali from Tunisia, as I write Mubarak is reported to be moments away from losing his hold on the country. With the rapid departure of Ben Ali from Tunisia yesterday I spent the evening contemplating human culture and the fragility of the powerful. I was interested in the framework of …

Chateau Figeac

After a long summer motoring across Europe they were now stuck in Bordeaux. They needed to find work on the Vendange. They scuttled about the train station trying to fettle some food. Life had been a series of adventures all summer long and now the money had definitely run out. The small group wanted to prolong the easy living of …

The Earth’s Sharp Edge

Making a Tagine in my last post awoke a set of recollections of the desert that had lain dormant for many years. I contemplated on how the open sky and still landscape can affect you profoundly. How you can be alienated by the culture, so self sufficient and unwestern. I have seen fellow travellers succumb to mental health issues. It …

And miles to go before I sleep

5 pm Boxing day, Welcombe In the midwinter gloaming the darkening sky and low winter sun robbed the landscape of colour. If only I had gone for a walk- the silence in the lanes would have been exquisite. The warmth of a lit window in a family home in sharp, perfect contrast to the bleak winter blue. I thought of …

A very good Gin & Tonic

A night out in Pamplona and the perfect G&T After an indifferent meal in a poor quality city restaurant my wife and I wandered the back streets of Pamplona late into the night, enjoying the ring of shoes on cobbles echoing against old basque apartments. Eventually we found our way back to nightlife and came upon an underground bar, approached …

Gothic Barcelona

Being Halloween it seems fitting to add a post about a city I find a little sinister. Last month we had a couple of days in Barcelona. We fell in love with the city, though only had an ipod to take photos with. Barcelona is a modern, idiosyncratic, european metropolis. But we loved the gothic- in the architecture, in the …

See All Writing Posts