This was my second trip to this picturesque seaside town, which sits in St Ives Bay, Cornwall.
Once a thriving fishing community, it is now very tourism orientated (every other establishment appeared to be a Cornish pasty bakery!) with a strong emphasis on art.
The name St Ives derives from the legend of the arrival of the Irish saint Ia of Cornwall in the 5th century AD.
On alighting from the turning circle which is the bus station, I took this photograph of Porthminster Beach. Despite being October, the sky was still a beautiful shade of blue. The long arm to the centre of the photo is Smeaton's Pier...
This photo was taken during our previous visit, in May 2019. I've included it as it shows the West Pier, to the left of the photo. There was also a third, wooden pier which was constructed in 1864 but collapsed. More about that later...
This is the view north, taken from the same spot. The thin white needle on top of the mound to the centre of the photo is Godrevy Lighthouse, which was constructed in 1858-1859, and stands 300 metres (980 ft) out to sea. Built to mark the hazardous Stones Reef, landing keepers onto the island was always a perilous practice. Originally manned by two men at a time, working two months on and one month off, it's been automated since 1933.
The lighthouse is 26 metres (86 ft) high and is octagonal. We had booked to take a boat trip around the island but it was cancelled, apparently due to weather conditions. Well, the weather and sea looked fine to me, but I suppose they know best. I've walked up the beach from nearby Hayle; from Riviere Towans to Gwithian Towans, as close as I could get to the lighthouse, and the sea does look very choppy when it rebounds off the corner of the bay.
St Ives is full of cuteness, such as this little shopping courtyard...
This was taken standing in front of St Ives Museum, looking down onto Bamaluz Beach...
The third, skeletal pier was not revealed the last time we were here, as the tide was high. But this time we clambered down the stone stairs, over the rocks and onto the beach...
Made of wood, the pier didn't stand the test of time and gave up the ghost and collapsed in 1864...
I have to say, although the beach is pretty, I wouldn't want to swim or paddle in the water. These underwater obstacles would be treacherous...
By this time the tide was already cutting off the beach, so we took the stone walk upwards onto Smeaton's Pier.
St Ives Museum, which was well and truly closed, up on the headland. The last time we were here we visited the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden. Read all about that day here:-
John Smeaton (1724-1792) was a prominent civil engineer, and the pier was constructed between 1769-1770, from his design. The original 120 metre (360 ft) pier was almost doubled in length in the early 1890s. This lighthouse, which is now halfway down the pier, was once at the end...
Here is a blown-up photo taken the last time I was here, which shows both lighthouses- the one at the end dating from the 1890s. I assume that they work after dark- St Ives is still, after all, a working pier, and you can definitely see two prominent lights emanating from this area from Hayle, where we were staying.
Leaving the beach and harbour and looking back the way we'd walked, you can see Godrevy Lighthouse far off in the distance. It was the inspiration for Virginia Woolf's 1927 novel To The Lighthouse. She holidayed here as a child- however, she placed her fictional lighthouse in the Hebrides. Although I like the autobiographical elements to her work, this was written in her "stream of consciousness" style, which I find rather trying and skittish.
This is Lambeth Walk Beach, which was on our walk back (and up!) towards the bus station.
The bronze sculpture is listed across the internet as Epidauros II (1961) by Barbara Hepworth... But it's written as Epidaurous underneath the actual piece. A simple thing, but someone pedantic like me would notice it! Hmm, the mind boggles...
Bird's eye view back to Hayle, where we were staying. Talking of birds, a family next to where we were sitting waiting for our bus chose to crumble some cake crumbs near us. The seagulls swooped- and dropped a dirty present on the SuperDean's leg!😆
We decided to play the lottery as it's deemed lucky- but didn't win...😒
St Ives, I will return, if only to scoff a pasty and go on a Godrevy Island boat tour.
Until then...
TTFN
The Miss Elaineous
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