screenshot of Google Maps, 11SEP2016, notations using Paper by 53
Our goal in St. Ives, before The Injury, was to use it as a base to explore Cornwall. Maybe hire a guide for a day, take buses and trains - never drive - and perhaps some walks along the coastal path. Well, during Europe 2016, Plan B, my back went out in Bilbao, and my activity was greatly limited by the time we arrived in St. Ives.
But we settled into a state of "being" on vacation, and managed to do enough in St. Ives to get familiar with the town and have a very, very enjoyable time. Our hotel, the Pedn-Olva, is an older (50+ years) beach resort-type hotel with several outdoor terraces, a swimming pool, restaurant and bar. The inside is a warren of halls, stairs and small, odd-shaped rooms (at least ours was). Our room, at the very lowest level of the building, looked out on the Celtic Sea (the Atlantic Ocean between England and Ireland) and the St. Ives harbour (I'm using the British spelling). A few feet below our window was the black rock outcrop into which the hotel is built, and during high tide, the waves crashed just below us. We didn't need any background noise app at night; the ocean waves breaking on the rocks, or the sand at low tide, did a great job lulling us to sleep.
The hotel is a very short distance from the St. Ives train station, where an old train makes the short trip between St. Ives and St. Erth probably every hour or more often. At St.Erth, connections can be made for trains to other parts of England (London, for example). So, being tired of the airport scene, and concluding that the closest we could fly to St. Ives would be Newquay, up the coast, then a ~$100 taxi ride to St. Ives, we decided to take the train from London. The 5.5 hour train ride was comfortable, and passed through the lovely British countryside. And, taking into account getting to and arriving early at the airport in London, waiting for luggage, taking a taxi, etc., it was really not that much more time.
Here are a few of the things we did in St. Ives:
We walked along the wharf road that borders the harbour. It is lined with tourist shops, restaurants and bars, and crowded with people. Interestingly, we heard very few American accents; mostly British. We scoped out some promising places to eat, which turned out to be very good.
Special mention of The Tearoom, a small restaurant that has it's own bakery which, to Sherry's great delight, also makes almost everything available gluten free - they bake many of their pastries, tarts, scones, etc., gluten free as well as with wheat. Thanks The Tearoom folks!
We browsed various art galleries. St. Ives was a very active artist's colony from the 1940's into the 1980's, with a number of well-known artists in residence. It is still an art town, with numerous galleries and local artists and arts organisations. If you like seascapes, this is the palce to be - and there are many other themes, also.
Barbara Hepworth was a resident artist of St. Ives during WWII and later. She is one of few women artists to gain international fame. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Hepworth. After her death in 1975, her home and studio became the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden. This small museum and wonderful garden are a must-see for art lovers while in St. Ives.
We walked along the Wharf Road and beyond to what is called The Island, a high peninsula above town (see map, above). We had great views for 360 degrees of the ocean and the land, quite spectacular. Although walking for me was difficult and painful because of my back, it was worth the effort.
A cocktail with a local. We had booked an airbnb for our original trip, the one we had to cancel, and it was not available for the Plan B trip. However, we had so enjoyed communicating with Joan, the owner, and she with us, that she encouraged us to contact her while in town. And so we met Joan for a drink late one day, and she brought with her the couple staying in her airbnb - from Happy Valley, Oregon (next to Portland)! Mark and Rhonda are community college teachers, and, of course, we played Oregon people geography and found a few people in common. We had a terrific time together, sharing stories, laughing, learning about each other. Joan is a lovely woman and, even though we didn't stay with her, we know she is the perfect airbnb hostess. And this is one of the reasons we travel, to meet wonderful people.
Laundry - we dropped our dirty clothes at the laundromat, and Simon had it washed and dried 1.5 hours later. Thanks Simon!
The small theatre company in St. Ives was doing a production of "Avenue Q" for which we bought tickets. We kind-of rushed through dinner at the Indian restaurant Rajpoot and hurried to the theatre, only to discover that it was cancelled because one of the actors was ill. Dang.
Beach time. We walked on the beach, in the warmish water and sun. We sat on the soft sand. I collected samples for the Mueum of Sand, of course. One day, after lunch at The Tearoom, Sherry walked back to the hotel along the Wharf Road, I walked back on the sand at low tide. During high tides, the coast of St. Ives is a series of coves separated by rocky headlands. During low tide, however, all the coves are connected and one can walk on the sand the entire way. The boats anchored in the harbour are all lying on the sand during low tide, an interesting thing to walk through!
One of my favorite aspects of being in a seaside town, especially staying next to the water, is falling into the tidal rhythm of the place. In our room, we could tell the tidal period by the sound; crashing waves on rock during the high, softer swooshing waves on sand during the low. And having views of the harbour gave us a sense of the rhythms of the commercial maritime activities. I like this kind of life.
All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed being in St. Ives, and recommend it highly.
The photo album: https://www.flickr.com/gp/95157126@N03/1oMu2V
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