Like Here, Only Different ~ Lifeboat Drill

Wednesday while walking in St Ives I saw a handsome , photogenic boat.

This is a lifeboat and Wednesday was drill day.

After dinner I went out and noticed an odd craft in the water.  It had treads like an earthmover or a tank.

This is the machine that pulls the boat up into the big garage where they store it.  Notice the person in the water.  I was perplexed as this cove was filled with boats.  The water is barely six to twelve inches deep!

I would have loved to stay out to watch them haul the boat in, but it had been a long day.

This morning the tide was even lower than last night.  The pictures I had taken yesterday afternoon when I first arrived were clearly high tide.

This is a beautiful, lovely town.  I didn't get to all the artist venues.  There is a branch of the Tate Gallery here.  Some of the shops had wonderful artwork.  Perhaps when I get to Penzance there will be someplace that has prints that can be rolled in a tube for safe travels.

Like Here, Only Different ~ Day 2b St Ives to Zennor

St Ives to Zennor 7 miles St Ives , Trevalgan Stone Circle, The Carracks , Zennor and Sperris Quoits, St Senara Church.  Tonight I stay at Tinners Arms and since it is Thursday, there will be live music and entertainment.  www.tinnersarms.co.uk

Well we are back on familiar ground.  Walking the National Trails of England are a distinct pleasure.  Beautifully signed and easy to follow.  There is also the wonderful Trailblazer books which have lavishly detailed maps that point out interesting things along the way.

Seven miles is not much in distance but this is some tough up and down walking.  Last year a couple I met on the Coast to Coast Path ruefully remembered the up and downishness of this trail.  The whole of the SW Coast Path covers 630 miles and fills three books.  My guide said this is usually said to be the toughest leg of the whole path.  A picnic lunch will be needed for there is nothing along the way but wild countryside.

So I mosied around town and picked up a pasty for lunch.  I walked far enough to get out of town and at noon sat down for a lunch.

Nice place.  Wonderful views

A sweet singer

Plenty of pretty flowers.

The way was as tough as the book and my travel companions said.  Tough up and downs.  Not as long or as steep as last weeks, but a lot of rocks and narrow footing that you had to watch and step carefully through.  All the way was along cliff edge so there is a certain level of cautious moving.

B&Bs are usually not ready to receive check-in until 4 in the afternoon.  My days plan had included a visit to the quoits which are a mile east from town, away from the coast path.    I am, just to pooped and knee achy to climb up there.  Besides, by the time I got here, it WAS after 4.

The Parish Church of St Senara is a mix of early Norman ( 1100's) and 13 and 15th century construction.

In the pews, kneeler pads were needleworker in pattern, many with quite distinctive design.  In some pews there was a small basket of toys and books to keep a child busy.

Here a chair 600 years old called The Mermaids Chair.

D.H. Lawrence lived here and it is here he wrote Woman in Love.  He said of Zennor"At Zennor one sees infinite Atlantic, all peacock-mingled colours, and the gorse is sunshine itself.  Zennor is a most beautiful place: a tiny granite village nestling under high shaggy moor-hills and a big sweep of lovely sea beyond, such a lovely sea, lovelier even than the Mediterranean...It is the best place I have been in, I think"

Like Here , Only Different ~ A Stroll in St Ives.

Took a quick stroll around.  A beautiful sunny day and the town is packed.

First stop was for a Cream Tea with strawberries.

Narrow twisty lanes and almost no street signs.  The map is handy as it lists a lot of landmarks.

Pretty beach front.  Beware the aggressive gulls.  They will grab a pasty right from your hand.

Everyone loving this beautiful spot.

Like Here, Only Different ~ Day 1b We're Taking the Train...Again

Oh Sheldon Cooper would be so excited. Another train ride!

St Pancras

To Paddington

To St Erth

Today we are heading west to St Ives.  I guess, somewhere in the way back of my foolish child's mind I wondered why people were going to St Ives

As I was going to St. Ives,

I met a man with seven wives,

Each wife had seven sacks,

Each sack had seven cats,

Each cat had seven kits:

Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,

How many were there going to St. Ives

Now the most famous answer is 1, but the wiki shows a host of possibles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_I_was_going_to_St_Ives

St Ives located on the Atlantic coast of Cornwall is just north of Lands End, the most westerly spot in England.  It is also just south of Port Isaac, film venue for the BBC "Doc Martin" show.  I will be taking another walk, this time along the Coast Trail to Penzance.  Navigation is easy, keep the ocean on your right.

I selected this journey after some consideration.  Last year during my Coast to Coast hike, I started my day with a coffee and a check in with the BBC weather.  I noted that prevailing weather frequently skirted north of this peninsula in Cornwall.  Indeed that area is considered a kind of banana belt and it will be likely that trees and plants more commonly found in warmer climates will be seen in gardens.

I am,however , fully expecting to get rained upon.  It is just being realistic.  My guide book states that May is the peak for wildflowers, so my camera is bound to go into overload.

The whole of the trail and all the villages fall within the Penwith Heritage Coast.  Here is the handy Wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penwith

 Large open sweeping hills, stony ground and occasional woodlands. Ancient structures called dolmens (quoits) arrived with the neolithic settles in 3500 BC.  These rough stone constructions were used as tombs and are found all over Europe.  Stone circles from 200BC might be a challenge to find, as I found out last year.  Barrows, believed to be used for ceremonies, intermingle with tin mine relics.  Tin was combined with iron to make bronze.   The barrows date from 1500 - 700 BC .  Finally the Iron Age Celts, 700 BC brought the hilltop forts.

The word Cornwall derives from the Cornish word cornovii, meaning cliff castles

Tonight I am staying at Villamorva   www.villamorva.co.uk  The owner is said to be a cat lover.  I wonder if she got hers from that man with all the wives.