Secrets of the gut

A damp day with drizzle and occasional showers, but mild for this time of year, eighteen degrees. We got up late, having stayed in bed listening to Jim Al-Khalili on 'The Life Scientific' interviewing Tim Spector whose pioneering research into the diversity of individual human gut biomes is revealing remarkable new insights into the reason why some people can eat whatever the want and never put on weight, while others cannot control their weight no matter what diet they try. The composition of microbes in the digestive tract is a key factor in physical and mental health. Eating more variety of fresh food, and less processed foods is essential for improving gut biome health. 

Advocates of vegan and vegetarian diets have been saying this for decades, based on practical experience. Tim Spector's scientific investigation of differences in health between pairs of twins, identical and non-identical over their life span confirms practical wisdom, but goes much further in identifying particular organisms and how they function as part of the digestive system. It's a scientific breakthrough which promises new effective treatments for some chronic ailments.

After breakfast, we walked down to the beach west of the port. The tide was far out and we were able to walk on the table of bedrock that extends over a hundred metres from red sandstone cliffs containing long streaks of friable grey limestone, as does the bedrock. This is one among many places where the Jurassic limestone of the Welsh coast interacts with the older sandstone of the Quantocks, turning and twisting under immense pressure due to movement in the earth's crust. It looks like a cross section of marble cake.

We bought fish and chips to take home for lunch, such generous portions that I regretted eating too much for the rest of the day. We both needed a snooze afterwards and then went for a walk along the coast path heading east from the other side of the port, as far as Helwell Bay. Here the clifftop path drops down a steep flight of steps on to the bedrock table of the beach. There's a sign that warns walkers of mud on the bedrock, and to beware of the tide cutting off the path. There doesn't seem to be an inland path diversion. As the tide had turned we turned around and headed back, but not before we saw an egret in the distance, and heard a distant oystercatcher.

We walked out on to the eastern arm of the port where the quotation from The Ancient Mariner had been painted last Saturday, and inspected the work, made by a local artist, who signs himself 'Pat'. The sound of a train whistle in the distance prompted me to dash to the station, and take photos of the arrival and departure of the last train of the day towards Bishops Lydeard.

The in-house internet wasn't working for most of the day, but we were able to alert the proprietor of this, and he went off and rebooted the system. It worked thereafter very slowly, and for three hours it was impossible to upload the photos I'd taken. I suspect dozens of other holidaymakers were attempting to catch up after the outage at the same time. I needed extra patience to complete uploading the forty nine photos I took today. And then it was time for bed again.