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Sunday 14 May 2017

St Ives Food & Drink Festival


The stunning location of Porthminster beach plays host to this year's St Ives Food & Drink festival...  


and a superb line up of Cornish chefs headed up by...



Nathan Outlaw,  with two stars,  Michelin's highest rated fish chef who whisked up a dish based on abundant Cornish haddock...


which proved something of a challenge for the festival photographers to get a shot of under the strong midday sun!...

Photo courtesy of Crystal Sea skipper David Stevens 

after years of virtual correspondence Through the Gaps finally gets to meet Mr Outlaw, the natural successor to Keith Floyd who did so much to champion the cause for home-grown fish consumption through his ground-breaking BBC TV series, Floyd on Fish - maybe we'll see fish-chef extraordinaire Nathan carry on where the great Floyd left off?...


what a backdrop, another chef gets down and dirty on the beach...


and another great champion of South West fish, Mich Tonks, Rockfish's beacon of fish cuisine just over the border in Plymouth wrestles with a dish of octopus - the pig's trotter texture of the dish truly mouth-watering...




he was closely followed by the lively Jack Stein who never fails to engage with the audience ably assisted by equally vivacious Sophie Mitchell who entertained the audience with a great, largely add-libbed double act...



it isn't all fish at the show of course so there are food and drink stalls to suit all tastes...


in some cases literally from all round the world...


strolling on the beach...


local crab company, Real Cornish Crab Company was kept busy all day...


as were the nachos, wraps & pulled pork...


burritos...


all consumed to the backdrop of a lively music stage...


inside the huge exhibitors marquee and eclectic mix of local produce...


and food related products...


some fiery...


some consummately coffee...


or chocolaty...


and the inevitable truly British cuppa were all available...


and will be for Sunday too! 

Check out the weather at the beach live on the festival webcam!

Saturday 13 May 2017

It's a hard life.



Seems that after only a few days at sea the brand new Rowse crabber, Harriet Eve...


is showing just how harsh conditions can be - her painted numbers have been blasted off her white hull!...


while hers sister-shipr, Emma Louise is waiting for 6 tons of concrete to set on her deck...


over 300 bags of scallops went ashore from the Hariengvliet...


while over on one of the beam trawlers one of the crew make use of their high-wire skills - or are they just walking the plank?



Friday 12 May 2017

#FishyFriday is here again!


Thursday evening and there's no end in sight to the number of visiting Scottish prawn boats in Newlyn...


of all shapes and sizes including...


the ex-French stern trawler Aquarius...


and the Nicola Anne...


landing to the fish market...


looking through the crowded boats you could be excused for thinking you were in Fraseburgh or Peterhead!...


a huge pot entrance...


but for what fish are these pots designed to catch?...


Mr Dwan climbs aboard his trusty steed...


as Mat carefully guides just a handful of the 780 boxes of hake the boat has caught over five days fishing...


busy enough...


one of the smaller visitors, the Brixham trawler Equinox...


the bigger the boat the bigger the stern - necessary in order to handle the twin-rig trawls use by these vessels...


another visiting aluminium windfarm cat...


now it is #FishyFriday morning and there is a mixed bag of boats landing, including an invisible netter...


even the local boats are having a go at prawn bashing - on a somewhat reduced scale...


hake from the invisible netter...


the little nick in the flesh is a clue to what kind of fish this is...


one gorgeous tub gurnard...


and one delectable John Dory...


a handful of big plaice...


and lashings of lovely lemons...


a trio of megrim soles...


the 'bait' clearly visible at the end of the monkfish's rod...


fish don't come much fresher than these line caught pollack, just hours old...


ahah!, the invisible netter does have a name...


it could just be that these are the fish...


 caught by the mystery pots shown in close-up earlier...


a kind of dull grey rather than silver dawn this morning...


one of the two remaining wooden hulls in the Stevenson fishing fleet...


lined up and ready to sail...


the stern of the ex-French trawler with its twin net drums has been modified to accommodate twin-rig clump...


the deck of the crabber Emma Louise is all set to receive six tons of concrete ballast this morning which should quieten her down a little.