2. Cornwall: South West Coast Path: Hayle to St. Ives - 5 miles - OS Explorer 102
Easy going with plenty of places for an ale, tea, pasty, scone, fudge and fish and chips, and you can catch a train back to near the start.
This walk actually starts at Lelant, just outside Hayle, because otherwise you have a mile or so of busy and boring road to trek along. Life's too short. But do stop at Hayle's South Quay first to explore Carnsew Pool and nature reserve first. Magical in the morning.
Philps, a bakery and, according to a taxi driver I spoke to on my last walk, the best pasty maker in Cornwall. is just across the road from the quay and I stopped to buy.
Too early for their traditional ones, they offered their ‘breakfast’ version instead. A combination of sausage, bacon, eggs and beans in pastry. I’m embarrassed to say it was disgustingly delicious (and when on another day I tried their traditional one, that was too, although I reserve the 'best' title for a little hut outlet on St.Mawes quay).
Driving out of Hayle along the B3301 toward Lelant, turn right into Saltings Reach, a new
housing development. There’s a car park at the end by the coast path. You're off!
The path brings you to the The Saltings, a pleasant country lane which turns into Green Lane a little after passing Lelant Train Station, ending at a T junction. Turn right here into Church Road and head to the path and St Uny's Church in front of you. In 1572 a row erupted here between a couple. The records show the husband called his poor wife a whore bitch.' In English not in Cornowok,' contemporary records record. This is deepest Cornwall and using English to abuse his wife was noteworthy back then, proving Cornish Celtic still prevailed in the 16th century, Shakespeare or no.
Leaving the lane behind, you're now on glorious coast path alongside the beautiful and wide beaches of the Hayle estuary, through sand dunes with a golf course and rail line to your left. A wooded cliff changes the scenery but it’s still easy going for Cornwall. And then Carbis Bay appears.
An upmarket beach resort where the world's leaders, including Biden (and Boris at the time)
got together in June 2021 for the G7 summit, Carbis Bay has plenty of facilities but rather than ruining, they enhance the bustling beach area. Hire a boat or board, have a posh meal at the beach view restaurant, or do as I did and get yourself a cheap cuppa at the beach cafe, settle down at a picnic table and enjoy watching people enjoying themselves.
Now a confession. I walked only as far as Carbis Bay and then back again because my partner wanted to do the leg to St.Ives with me. I also didn’t fancy St. Ives on a hot day in August. Too busy.
When we eventually completed the St. Ives leg, the weather was not so generous (hence the grey photos). Anyway, a short and pretty walk from Carbis Bay through woods brings you to sandy Porthminster Beach. The tide was out so we took off along it and round a headland to St Ives proper.
Usually smothered in tourists (I'm one too, so don't take it personally) I visit it rarely, but on this September day they’d mostly melted away like candy floss in a drizzle. Now it could be seen for what it is: absolutely charming. St. Ives is a place to spend time and explore the beaches, the commercial art galleries—especially the serious ones in the backstreets—and the Tate Modern including the Barbara Hepworth museum and sculpture garden. Add to that, the cafes and cosy ancient pubs, the headland with its small chapel, the surfing off Porthmeor beach and, of course, the lovely harbour. I even found but didn't linger on an austere granite row of terraces called Teetotal St. Instead, I retired to the 14th century and real-ale-serving Sloop Inn by the harbour.
A century after the Sloop opened its door, Perkin Warbeck was declared king here in this little town. A Yorkist pretender to the Tudor throne of the first Tudor Henry, no one took him seriously. As for local Celts, they probably didn't understand a word he said, apart from that bloke who called his wife rude words.
Kings and would-be-kings aside, when you’ve sated yourself in one of the characterful old pubs or cafes, you might not fancy the trek back to Lelant. Good news, head the short way back to Porthminster beach and get the train back to Lelant. A lovely train journey along coast and estuary.