St Ives to Portreath

10/8/13 Maggie likes St Ives. So when she realised that was our next destination, a lift was offered. It meant an early morning start on an August Saturday to miss the A30 traffic, but we were in St Ives before 9. We even had time for breakfast before the walk. The path is a frequently used one to Carbis Bay.

Around the corner to Porth Kidney, the path continues on the sandy theme.

We stay on the ridge at first

then descended to the dunes before turning the corner to the Hayle Estuary.

After walking through the leafy Lelant, we return to the estuary and the Old Quay House.

The chatty staff are pleased to see their first customers of the day. Pints of Cornish Coaster (3.6%) and Doom (4%) for £6.40. Then it's on along the causeway to Hayle itself.

I like Hayle. Feels like a proper town. The blue building in the distance is the Royal Standard Inn. Pints of Trelawny (3.8%) and Tribute (4.2%) for £6.20 as we shelter from the rain. Opposite was a busy pasty shop with long queues. After walking along some deserted quays, we hit the Towans.

We can still see St Ives, but ahead of us are several miles of dunes.

The dunes keep coming until Godrevy.

Then the landscape changes.

I just missed getting seals at the bottom of these cliffs to go with the ponies on top.

Hells Mouth has some spectacular cliffs. We stopped at the cafe for a drink and expensive sandwiches. The walking is quite flat along the top of these cliffs until Carvannel.

The ups and downs here show some of the sea caves as well.

Soon it was Portreath that came into view.

Time for a pint in the Waterfront Inn, but we later realised that wasn't on the path. Maggie, Beth and Molly were there to meet us. Thanks to them for the day.

Zennor to St Ives

8/8/13 A Berry's trip to St Ives seemed like a good way to do this. Unfortunately we stopped at Jamaica Inn and then went via Penzance and the narrow coast road to St Ives. Just to make it worse, the driver wouldn't drop us in Zennor either. So, almost 90 minutes late, we had to catch a First bus back to Zennor. No time for a pre-walk drink and so we followed the path along the ridge and back to the coastpath.

The write-ups of this section warn of difficult going and having learned from previous walks, we did take some water this time. The path was very rocky in parts and there were some hills. The weather was not too hot and there were a few others around. You could imagine that inclement weather would have made it different, but I don't think that it is the most difficult section. St Ives kept getting closer.

We soon found ourselves on the familiar streets of St Ives. It only took 2.5 hours from the Tinners Arms to the Sloop Inn.

We sat inside and had Otter Ale (4.5%) and Cloudy Rattler (6%) for £7.75. We had to get through the crowds for the next one.

We made it to the Lifeboat Inn just in time. It just started to rain and people flocked in behind us. We already had our Pear Rattler (6%) and Trelawny (3.8%) for £7.05.

A walk up the hill in the rain with a pasty to the coach was all that was left. It was a swift return trip, but the morning journey had already cost the driver his tip.