Kevin & Petra's travels: St. Ives

Friday 20 July

What a brilliant day we had today, St Ives stole our hearts. We set off from our site at about 9am to catch the bus to take us to Redruth railway Station. The walk was about half an hour and when we finally got to the bus stop it cost us £7.60 return to Redruth. We thought this a lot as it didn’t seem very far from the town but of course it took in all the local estates on route. We were even more certain of the exorbitant bus fare when we got two return tickets to St.Ives on the train for just £10.

The railway journey to St.Ives is amazing, so beautiful and picturesque. We were glued to the window and the first sight of St.Ives near took your breath away. We were soon at the station and took a slow walk into the town. When we left the camp site in the morning we were dressed for the occasion namely, walking boots, thick socks, waterproofs etc. As soon as we got to St.Ives the sun came out and the sky cleared and throughout the day the it got hotter and hotter. No doubt if we had gone in shorts and flipflops it would have poured with rain and been freezing cold.

It had been out intention to do all of St Ives in one day including the Tate and the Barbara Hepworth museum. But we were so taken by the town, the beaches and the lovely weather that we couldn’t bring ourselves to go indoors. So instead we walked all around the town going down all the back streets and exploring. The high street was surprisingly modern for such a small town and had many well known shops. It was heaving with people and vehicles. The latter being mainly white delivery vans. As there are no pavements this made it quite difficult to make progress down the streets. Happily it all cleared up by the afternoon.

For lunch we went on the island walk and found a bench overlooking Porthmeor beach and Tate St Ives. The weather by now was glorious and the sea was the most amazing blues and turquoise. We were surprised by the amount of birds on the island and also many artists all around us painting. After lunch we carried on round the island and back into town.

We explored many artists’ galleries in the back streets, no mean feat as these streets are incredibly steep. We couldn’t help feel that we weren’t in England at all as the light and feel of the place is very mediterranean. It’s easy to see why artists love it and gain inspiration from it. We will return next week to see the galleries.

For Carolines Dad Derek and Barbara St. Ives Weatherspoons