Blogs from St Ives, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, Europe

Once we had had another full-Cornish and checked-out of the hotel, we went for a walk back down to St Ives' harbour to see it in daylight. We circled round past the beach, where the surfers were braving the cold, around St Ives Head and then around the narrow streets and shops. We debated getting a box of different Cornish Pasties (there are sweet as well as savoury), but didn't in the end, which we regretted. Somewhere my wife had always wanted to visit was Clovelly in Devon, so we thought we would stop there on the way back. This is a private village, which is completely closed to traffic. We parked at the Visitors' Centre at the top of the hill, bought the tickets needed to enter the village and then headed down. The village ... read more

St. Ives, Cornwall, home of Poldark, Rebecca, and the Pirates of Penzance The train to St. Ives from Bathe involved more than one change...each one successfully completed... and one change included a downpour on metal roof at the Exeter station. Now that I am back in Canada I can safely say that I encountered only sunshine, dull to drab or drizzle weather for the whole of my seventy day wander thru the UK. Out of the train and a search for the path to the hotel begins. Up the road past long term parking, over the rise, past the local bus terminal ( actually just a big parking-lot space for the buses to turn around and begin their return journey from where ever they came from) down a curved hill past a church, a tall scaffolding ... read more

Up early today, even though it's only 70km to St. Ives, but I'm still anticipating the dreaded Cornish hills to slow my progress and, as I couldn't contact them on a Sunday, I had to contact the railway to book my bike and myself for my return to Newcastle. I checked my overnight laundry drying system and all seems peachy. Thank goodness for heated towel racks. Socks rolled, folded and stowed. I went with the simple B & B breakfast option of cereals, toast and yogurt, and the B & B owner (upon her return from shopping), provided a few sweet buns for the road. I returned to my room to call CrossCountry Rail to confirm if my bike booking request had been approved and was advised there were no bike spaces available for my preferred ... read more

I didn't mean to leave you all in suspense for quite so long after my last cliff hanger.. ..When we awoke after our dreadful journey from Lundy to St Ives (Via an abortive attempt to go into Padstow) the boat wasn't where we had left it! The anchor had dragged overnight. Fortunately out to sea, rather than onto the rocks. In our exhausted state we had failed to notice!! Woke up to a text from the Pinders saying they could see us out of their hotel window!!! That's when we realised, we might not be quite where we had anchored! Unfortunately the bright sunshine of morning also brought home the realisation of what had happened. About a foot of water in our food storage lockers, engine room, outside lockers. A bit clean up operation needed and ... read more

Today was another great day; I can't believe it but it hasn't rained yet, in fact the sun has been out quite a bit. This morning the tour started at the Mayflower steps; it's kind of cool when I think about when Holly D and I saw Plymouth Rock a few years ago on our Boston/Cape Cod trip and now I have seen where the pilgrims set sail from. It's like completing the circle. From here we went on a boat ride, saw several Royal naval ships and heard some stories on the history of the port. The highlight of today was St Ives; I didn't meet the man with seven wives but I did get really close with a gull. I decided to sit on the edge of the port and try a Cornish pastie, ... read more