We left before 9am this morning and headed to St Ives. The jewel in the crown for Cornwall. We had a plan to visit the Barbara Hepworth sculpture gallery and garden. First we had to find a park, which is not an easy task in most towns, made all the harder by ridiculously, narrow roads. But it is 10am, on Monday and we are lucky. We find a small carpark, with a few spaces left and it is only a five minute walk to the gallery.
The gallery was delightful, numerous sculptures inside and more outside in the garden. Glad we were there early to enjoy the peace and beauty, was well worth the visit.
We wandered around near the harbour for an hour and spent time soaking up the view. St Ives is a beautiful town with lots of galleries, shops and cafes.
Then we looked for somewhere for lunch. Most places seemed to be serving cake. Earlier we had walked passed a great looking, modern restaurant overlooking the beach near our carpark. We headed back there to Porthmeor Beach cafe and enjoyed tapas overlooking the gorgeous beach. I was struck by the juxtaposition of the old Village of St Ives on one side & the new cafe overlooking the Porthmeor beach on the other side, serving tapas. I was surprised as I realised I preferred the new, it felt comfortable. The food was fabulous, we shared 3 tapas dishes and we both agreed they rated highly.
After an enjoyable morning, we started heading towards Padstow. On the way we stopped at Perranporth beach. There were lots of tourists. It had a nice feel. The Beach reminded me of Narrabeen. We haven’t spent much time near beaches in the UK, we enjoyed this one, the town had a beach holiday vibe about it.
It is the beginning of our 6th week here and 3rd week with the car. I drove for the first time ? from Perranporth to Padstow, via Newquay. I was grateful there weren’t any narrow roads, that were only fit for one car ?
We drove through Newquay, it has a huge harbour and a very wide sandy beach between two headlands.
We arrived in Padstow around 3pm. We have a lovely room overlooking Camel Estuary and a dredger that evidently starts at 5am! Guessing I will be awake by then anyway. ? We sat outside on our tiny balcony had a cuppa overlooking the Estuary and relaxed. It is a gorgeous afternoon with a gentle breeze.
Currently there is no rain forecast for the next 10 days. High 20’s later in the week. It was only 19 degrees today, when there is no breeze it feels 5 degrees warmer, due to the humidity. I am enjoying the temperature and very grateful we were not here last year in their heatwave. We have not stayed anywhere here that is set up for hot weather. The rooms get hot when it is only 20C, they would be stifling at 30C.
Around 5pm, we went for a walk into town for a look around. We found an Italian restaurant Rojanios in the Square for dinner. We had pizza and it was exceptionally good. A slow walk back via the harbour, capped off an enjoyable day.
Wishing Kieran a happy birthday for tomorrow (it is already tomorrow at home). We are thinking of you and hope you get spoilt. Sending lots of love to you from us both.
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