Tuesday 18 October - St Ives

We were up late yet again, the holiday would be over before we knew if this kept up, and yet again Deb and I were at each other’s throats. She’s got the stereotypical ladies excuse whereas with me it’s because, at the moment, I’ve got very short tempered with Hannah, she keeps lying and being rude, and if I tell her off for being naughty and when Deb automatically leaps to her defence regardless of what she’s done I get really angry with her. So we left to visit St. Ives with an undercurrent of hostility present. To be honest I really didn’t want anything to do with anyone so I kept myself to myself and took lots of photos. Things didn’t really change until after we’d arrived at St Ives and spent some there.


Anyway, back to the journey, we drove indirectly (On our why to Lelant Saltings Deb took a wrong turn and for a while we were headed in the opposite direction. When we realised our mistake and headed towards Penzance and St.Michael's Mount before turning north back toward Lelant Saltings) to Lelant Salting railway station with he intention of parking the car there and taking the train into St Ives. We’d chosen to do this for two reasons, first, we were told the rail route allowed you to glimpse spectacular scenery that you would otherwise miss and that, secondly, parking in St Ives was a nightmare! Both points were correct, the railway journey took us passed absolutely stunning beaches and headlands AND WHEN WE WERE WALKING THROUGH ST IVES IT WAS OBVIOUS THAT THERE REALLY WAS NO PARKING! Initially, the weather that morning had been disappointing, drizzling and overcast. Luckily, by the time we got into St.Ives, all this had changed and the day became almost summary. I heard that artists move to St.Ives and the surrounds because they considered that here was found the best natural light in Britain. I’d dismissed this as artistic bollocks and an excuse to live in the sunniest part of the UK but I have to admit I was the ignorant peasant. The light is unbelievable, all of West Cornwall seemed to be lit differently from everywhere else, everything seemed brighter and sharper, but St Ives was a revelation...I stand corrected a real man can admit when he’s wrong, its just wilful little nine year old girls who can’t, can they Hannah?

Anyway the train ride proved to be as lovely as we’d been told it was and a little while later we pulled into St Ives Station, which itself is blessed with a view of a beautiful bay situated directly below it, from there we walked to the top of the town - after that it was ALL downhill, and, indeed, a very steep hill it was!

St. Ives is gorgeous, one of those places that you immediately fall in love with and want to move into without delay. I think we were all captivated by it, certainly, I know I was; I couldn’t stop taking photos and videoing almost everything I saw. The Harbour is captivating and I walked its entire length while Deb and the Kids sat on their arses at the land end.

As I’ve already mentioned everything that’s claimed for the natural light in St. Ives is true and it’s true in spades. Absolutely everything you looked at seemed sharper and more in focus than anywhere else I’ve ever visited. It reminded me of the light on the Greek island of Zakynthos where all the blues are that spectacular multicoloured sea is translucent. Certainly I’ve never seen so many artists and art shops in one place before and don’ forget they’ve got their own Tate gallery! Unfortunately the Tate here is far too expensive to actually enter so that’s all that you’ll learn about it in this blog! This seems as good a place to place the photographs as anywhere:



After we’d completed our first tour of the town and taken in a sea front gallery, lovely lovely paintings by the way, the air of hostility, mentioned earlier, had dissipate and we decided to stop for lunch in a sea front pub where we had whitebait (Deb and me), 2 bowls of cheesy chips (1 for Hannah 1 to share), vegetable soup (Nat) and a pint of rattler (Me). Nice food, nice pub but, like everywhere in Cornwall, bloody expensive!

Afterward we continues our odyssey climbing a short way back up the hill then heading across the town taking in the main shopping strip and finally finding the sign posts for the Tate. We visited the Tate but for the reasons already given we didn’t actually go into the Gallery proper. The Tate is situated around the headland away from the town harbour and the change in the sea is astonishing. The harbour and surrounding sea had been as still as a mill pond because, I assume the headland acted as a windbreak whereas round the other side of it you encountered numerous surfers taking advantage of large powerful waves.

We walked back into the town had final look around the shops and started the long climb back up to the railway station. We too advantage of the many shops on the hill to stop and rest and shop some more. Eventually, we reached the Station, waited for the train and finally waved farewell to glorious St Ives; I’ll be back my love!

By now the tide had completely come in and the swampy flood plain that had had been the backdrop of our journey into town was now totally flooded and as a result the landscape was transformed.

Back at Lelant Salting we reclaimed our car and headed for home. We weren’t in a hurry and took our time as we tootled slowly home taking in the beautiful Cornish scenery!

Back at the Estate after we had rested and had something to eat we made our way to the pool and sauna after which we went back to our rooms and to bed or TV as took one’s preference.

VIDEOS STILL TO BE POSTED INTO THIS BLOG ENTRY