I've just come back from a week's holiday in Cornwall, the most Southern part of the United Kingdom - one of my most favourite places for enjoying nature, beauty, peace and quiet, beaches, quaint villages, walking, etc.

The Coast Path runs all the way round the Cornish coast for 258 miles and is all a public right of way. From towering cliffs, windblown estuaries, superb surf beaches, fishing coves, harbours, to sheltered tree lined creeks, even an island topped by a castle.

I often find Haiku a challenge on one level and yet sometimes I'm fortunate.  Sometimes it happens the way I believe it should, it just emerges from instict.

I respect and admire the Haiku tradition but I don't get too concerned about following the strict format of haiku rules. I instinctively allow a compact portrayal to emerge of what I am trying to express and let it come across in the 5,7,5 syllable format.

Here are some guidelines for writing haiku.

• Haiku poems consist of 5, 7, 5 syllables in three lines.
• Try to write a haiku only about what actually happens to you.
• Write when you have been deeply moved.
• Keep it honest, simple, clear and modest.
• Try not to explain, it should need no explanation.
• Try not to express feelings in words, let the concrete action speak for itself.
• The cutting divides the Haiku in two parts with a certain imaginative distance between the two sections. Line one and two should be different images. Line three brings the two images together.
• Each Haiku must contain a kigo, a season word which indicates which season the Haiku is set. For example cherry blossoms indicate spring, snow winter etc. The season word isn’t always that obvious.

waving endlessly

refreshing my inner thoughts

holiday delight

the sound of the sea

the ebb and flow of soothing

nothing quite like it

mister fisherman

standing and staring in hope

it might just catch on

lying on the hill

overlooking kenack sands

soaking up the sun

cove serenity

walked along the coastal path

a fitting reward

never gets angry

even when i lose my way

my satnav lady