In for a penny, in for a pound, she thought, and stepped off the track to circumnavigate the voluminous gorse. I’ve come this far, I might as well see if I can get to the purslane.

Anna had almost reached the sand when she heard a shout. It came, not from the cliff, but from the water. She was in the process of negotiating a particularly steep and slippery bit of rock and stopped, twisting her head over her shoulder. Bobbing on the waves was a wooden dinghy painted in stripes of turquoise blue and white and bearing two figures, one of whom she recognized as Robert MacKenzie.

‘Hi!’ she called.

‘What are you doing?’ he called back.

Anna jumped down onto the narrow spit of sand so that she could face him and saw that the other person in the boat was a boy of about ten. He had a mop of sandy hair that closely resembled Robert’s, and could only be his son. He also wore a miniature version of Old Robbie’s yellow fisherman’s jacket and had a pair of serious-looking binoculars around his neck to match the serious look on his small face.

‘I’m taking a walk,’ she shouted.

‘Down the cliff?’ Robert asked, his incredulity clear despite the noise of the waves and the wind.

‘I didn’t meant to come down it, I just—’

A gust of wind stole her words, throwing them to the sky. He held up a hand to cup his ear. She started to yell again, and then gave up, holding up her arms in an expansive shrug. Anna expected him to wave a goodbye and carry on, but instead she saw that they were bringing the boat onto the shore. Its pilot came close to beaching it and jumped out, the water up to his thighs as he dragged the dinghy up onto the sand. Young Robbie jumped out after him.

‘The cliff isn’t safe,’ Old Robbie said, as they got nearer. ‘Especially not after a storm like that. Look.’

He pointed up and Anna followed the direction of his outstretched hand to see fresh signs of scarring where the shallow earth had slipped its tether and slid down the underlying rock. In places it had obscured the narrow path she’d been on – she just hadn’t noticed as she’d picked her way along it. From her viewpoint it had looked like the natural bearing of the cliff.

‘Did that happen last night?’

‘Some of it. The erosion is getting worse every year.’

‘Right,’ Anna said, feeling slightly queasy as she realized what a fall on the cliff would have meant. ‘Okay. Well, lesson learned. Thanks. I guess I’d better be careful going back up.’

‘You can come in the Silver Darling.’ The voice came from the boy, his face still solemn. ‘We’ll take you. It’ll be safer.’

Anna smiled at him. ‘That’s very kind. Thank you.’