Art History Plumbs New Depths

I tried to explain to mine hosts at the B&B that I was a serious academic historian but each time I started uttering broke into gales of laughter, and today proved exactly the point. Donning the wetsuit I had collected Friday we drove down to the front at Dawlish and thence proceeded to Coryton Cove where I put on my flippers, mask and snorkel in order to dive down and find the wreck of the SS Empress of Britain, for which FB had designed some stained glass panels. Unfortunately at this precise moment the rain decided to descend in buckets full and Charles wimped out claiming that his camera would get wet. Meanwhile I frolicked on the beach, did some jogs, beachcombed for interesting stones, found a long stick and performed a Charlie Chaplin act, and sploshed about in the water (my wild child act). After 3/4 hour I realised Charles had completely disappeared but finally found him sheltering under a beach hut. We decided the rain had eased off sufficiently and he tiptoed onto a little promontory with trepidation whilst Libby floundered around in the water, rose from the depths (her Nereid act) and did her words to camera (brilliantly if I may say so) but the filmmaker kept getting things wrong and demanding more takes, which served him right because at one point a rather large wave topped the little pier and poured water into Charles' Gore-Tex boots, about which he was none too happy.

The wetsuit was wonderful (c/o Scuba Solutions) and even after an hour I didn't feel cold. Charles did!

Coryton Cove was known as Gentleman's Cove in Victorian Times, and gained the ENCAMS Quality Coast Award 2007 and Marine Conservation Society Good Beach Award 2007. It is backed by Brunel's railway line and the trains trundle through (unfortunately not puffers) regularly which is rather fun.

Old postcard of the Cove above.

Having treated my colleague to so many wonderful meals during our filming ventures he decided that it was time to reciprocate, and so we ended up at ... (wait for it) ... the Rock 'n' Sole Fish Bar where we (yes, even me) devoured pollack (very good and environmentally correct) and chips (well I left some of the latter which were immediately hoovered up by CM).

James Dean lookalike?!

In the afternoon we interviewed Mike Westbrook, a fascinating shoot, where he sat at his grand piano and explained the thinking behind the FBSG compositions. And in the evening Kate cooked us a meal - without a doubt the best meal during the west country expotition.