SWCP - Day 6 - Gwithian to St Ives - 10 miles - July 12th, 2015

It had to happen. After five days of brilliant sunshine, we woke to rain. We lingered over breakfast at our B&B and started off about 10:30 when the rain had changed to drizzle. Our walk today was a shorter one to St Ives. The sand dunes were covered with interesting snails and rabbits running around. We walked a section of beach before it became necessary to veer inland around the town of Hayle and its estuary. This particular section was not the greatest as it involved walking on roads however we did learn that Hayle was a town at the centre of the British Industrial Revolution. We next hiked through a wooded section, stopping to visit the church of Uny St Lelant, where the Pilgrimage route called St Michael’s way begins. We arrived in St Ives about 3pm and checked in at Cornerways guest house near the harbour. (Daphne Dumaurier used to stay here regularly in the 1949s). St Ives is a lovely, artsy town, very busy with tourists at this time of year. We visited the Tate Museum and then wandered the cute main shopping area - Fore Street, where there were many shops selling locally made jewelery, glass, products etc... An early dinner tonight included loacal fish and seafood. We will be off to bed early as tomorrow’s route is to be the most challenging – the guide book calls it “ a severe and remote 14 mile length”.

Upton Towans section

Slate waymarkers in this area

Hayle harbour at low tide 

Lelant Church 

Wild poppies

Hayle River & Estuary

Trail coming into St Ives 

Fore St., St Ives 

Our home for tonight

St Ives Harbour