Giant swell hits the Cornish Coast

Huge waves pounded the west coast today as Hurricane Hercules hit the British Isles. These photos were taken at Porth Island near Newquay in the morning at high tide, and as the tide dropped back I went down to Fistral to review the damage. The force of the waves was such that they had carved a new gully and demolished the footpath near Porth Island, sending hundreds of chunks of slate inland. The ground shook as wave after wave exploded on the end of the island, sending mountains of foam as high as the top of the island, at 70 feet in the air. It was a post-apocolyptic feel at Fistral, with a few souls surveying the damage and braving the biting wind.