Day 39 - Picturesque St Ives

A gentle 10.2 miles today along the Hayle estuary and St. Ives bay, in the company of Mags. Delightful weather was provided throughout and, if it wasn't for all the crowds in St. Ives, I'd have nothing to complain about at all!

We started at Lelant Saltings park and ride (How long until this is turned into houses now that St. Erth park and ride has opened?), with the first stretch of the walk being along a quiet road in front of some nice houses (the one I particularly liked was a semi detached seven bedroom Victorian property overlooking the nature reserve and estuary and being right next to Lelant station https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-83142935.html )

Once you have reached the end of the small road (about half a mile further on), the coast path turns down past Lelant Church, across West Cornwall Golf Club and runs alongside Porthkidney sands with fantastic views of the Hayle Estuary, The Towans and along the coast back to Godrevy Point and the lighthouse on Godrevy Island.

The path is a little up and down, but nothing that goes on too long, so the walk is gentle and takes you past some fantastic sandy beaches (it's no wonder that this is one of the busiest stretches of tourist coast in Cornwall).

Another mile or so (where the path runs close to the St. Ives branch line) brings the walker to Carbis Bay, another fantastic beach overlooked by the very posh Carbis Bay Hotel. Plenty of facilities exist aongside this beach, including car parking, but at £15 a day, I'd suggest parking at the top of the road rather than right on the beach (if you don't mind walking, Lelant Saltings charges £2.90 all day and is only two miles away!).

The path runs through the grounds of the Carbis Bay hotel, before working it's way around Porthminster point and along the back of Porthminster Beach (another wide sandy beach, but now right on the edge of St. Ives, so always busy!).

Follwo the path through the old town of St. Ives, past the Harbour and you'll come to St Ives Head (called the Island locally) where there is small chapel on top of the headland and splendid views along the coast to Perranporth exist.

On the West side of the head, the views are less far reaching, with Porthmoer Beach and Clodgy Point being all that is visible.

From here, a short walk will take you around the back of Porthmoer Beach, where you will find the Tate Gallery (St. Ives) which has an ever changing set of exhibits on display.

Porthmoer Beach is another Sandy Beach, with good facilities, today they were setting up a beach cinema, but we couldn't hang around...the walk back beckoned.

As usual, the walk back gave chances to see things that you had perhaps missed on the way out and enjoy the views all over again.

Lelant Saltings station has one train a day in each direction, so I can't see it being here much longer, especially with Lelant station less than a mile away.