Portreath to St. Ives

We reluctantly left the (relative) luxury of the Portreath Arms, after a slap-up breakfast, and headed out into the wind. It was still blowing a gale, the tail end of Storm Callum, although fortunately the rain which was promised didn’t materialise. 

We made our way up onto the cliff tops, watching some surfers catching some early morning waves as we climbed. We made our way along to Godrevy Point. Occasionally bracing ourselves for the wind, but otherwise it was relatively easy underfoot, and relatively flat.

We rounded the corner, and looked down into a cove to spy a colony of seals sheltering in the sandy bay. 

After rounding Godrevy Point, we made our way onto the beach, and followed the path;  first through the dunes, and then on the beach. It must have been the perfect day for wind-surfing, as there were at least 20 people out on the waves.

At the end of the beach we could see the dunes of St. Ives, just across the Hayle estuary. However the website states in no uncertain terms, that it would be extremely dangerous to attempt to cross it. So we didn’t, and instead continued into Hayle. 

The guidebook suggests the possibility of catching the bus from Hayle to St. Ives, and that definitely would have been preferable. This next section was thoroughly uninteresting. After 4 miles of trudging along roads, we made it to the dunes on the St. Ives side, just across from where we’d been 2-3 hours earlier.   

We stopped for a tea and cake at a small café, in a small building next to the church. We were after something at bit more substantial for lunch, but this was all we could find. We followed the path through the dunes, and then onto a path following the branch line, into St. Ives and to our hostel.

We went out to dinner, at the Seafood Café. Anya’s family have a tradition of visiting there on family holidays. The sticky toffee pudding is decadently delicious!