Passing Places.

So today it was time to get back on the train, to St Ives, changing to a branch line at St Erth. While waiting for the train at that station I met a couple with a Cocker and a King Charles Spaniel.The Cocker was all over me, I needed that Spaniel fix! I noticed that the signals at the station were very old school.

Soon we were on our way, with some amazing coastal views, this time on the Northern Cornish coast. When the train stopped at St Ives, a fair old crowd of us disgorged from the train and walked  into the main town. Although I wanted to look at the town, I also wanted to walk some of the coastal path and get away from the crowds. Incidentally the towns name comes from the arrival of a legendary Irish Princess St Ia who is said to have arrived on a leaf. Pilchard fishing and Tin mining were the foundations of its prosperity, later followed by tourism with the arrival of the railway and then the artistic scene blossomed with names like Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson. 

So St Ives is famous for its artistic community, and for its famous light. For sure even to my untamed eyesight, there is something there, I think a lot of it is the sun reflecting off the acres of sand around this town. I had myself the obligatory pasty, not as nice as the one in Mousehole, I sat down next to a couple with two young children, who were being warned about a Seagull giving them the beady eye, and onto me too. The mother said she had observed a Seagull pinching a bag of chips. I finished my pastie with undue haste.

The sea was out, so the harbour was clear of water and there plenty of newly revealed sand to wander over. So onto the sandy apron I went, and had a good walk about. As usual the camera doesn’t do the scene justice as our eyes see it. I then set off away from the town to the South West coast path. Just here was a Chapel, for the Fishermen of the town.

I was walking around what is called St Ives Head, ahead and the grassy spaces had people wandering about. There was a lonely church to have a look at and views of another beach called  Porthmeor. For a little while the path went inland and what seemed to be the artistic centre including a Tate Gallery. 

This county  is known for its surf,  there was a surf school here, with lots of people being shown how to make those moves on the waves. All kitted out in wet suits, footwear and so on. This area seems to have fauna resembling the Scilly Islands, not far from here. Huge succulents, Hydrangeas with their flower heads twice as big as you see back home and all colours, but pink being  predominant.

The path was now back on the coast, quite narrow, so I was constantly stopping to let people pass me, who were approaching from the other direction. There were lots of different flowers, I saw many birds and butterflies. My target point was called Clodgy Point after which was meant to be a path taking me back into the town.

I was using Google maps and I could see I had passed that path by a few steps. I went back, then found a faint indication that there was a path, and soon after a while a gate and a proper path revealed itself. The path soon joined a road which took me back into the town. By the side of the road was a stream bubbling away and this would eventually arrive in the harbour and wend its way to the sea. The tide was on the turn and much of the harbour was now under sea water.

I had decided that I would walk past St Ives and head to Carbis Bay which was on the train line. There was another beach to see and a leafy path with big private houses and others that looked like holiday homes for rent too. I caught a train to St Erth where the next train to Penzance was cancelled, and the one after that thirty minutes late. No matter, I was in no rush. Last photo is a tiled photo on display in Penzance station.