BEACHCOMBERS-JOURNAL

CHALLABOROUGH BEACH  SOUTH DEVON, ENGLAND Challaborough Beach 2002 "Our i dyllic  life at Challaborough - our special place!" BIOGRAPHY Challaborough is a small coastal village on the south coast of Devon, and is within the South Hams district and Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). It is built at the end of a long valley culminating in one the south coast’s best beaches. The villages of Ringmore and Bigbury-on-Sea are nearby. Challaborough started life as a Pilchard fishing hamlet circa 1400’s. On early maps it is marked as Chale which means ‘throat’ in old English I believe; probably a reference to its location at the throat of a valley. Evidence that the main industry was the fishing, smoking and salting of pilchards is well documented. Some structures that relate to the pilchard trade still exist today.   Smuggling must have been a popular “second career” in those early times, as there are references to this in local folklore and place names, adding to ...

THE START - MY FIRST BLOG POST Hello prospective reader!  This is my first ever blog post. I have had this Blog set up for several years now, always intending to record my thoughts, my travels, and perhaps tell a tale or two.  But you know how it is! Something always gets in the way and the least pressing thing gets abandoned. My poor old Blog page has languished on a web server in the internet void of a far away land, neglected, unloved and lonely. That all changed tonight as I decided it's high-time I recalled my empty Blog page back into the land of the living. From now on I intend to lavish it with attention, images, text and colour....... that is, just as soon as I master this web authoring and blogging lark! I hope it goes OK.  Please drop by from time to time and see how I am progressing. Best wishes, Phil.