Splashing Around

After a good sleep, we woke up feeling refreshed and ready to get out in the sun! Sinking the obligatory two morning cups of tea that I need to function, we threw on some clothes and wandered down to the beach before breakfast.

We stayed in Hayle, which is only about a ten minute drive from St Ives, but in my opinion, the beaches here blow St Ives out of the water. Slowly shelving blue seas and a huge expanse of golden sands, and when the clouds disappear and the wind stops, you could easily feel like you were hundreds of miles away.

Losing track of time, we collected shells and paddled for a while, until our bellies rumbled for breakfast. We trundled back to the van for some food, and then jumped on the little train into St Ives for a bit more aimless wandering.

If you can jump on the train into St Ives, even if it's only for two or three stops, please do. You'll be rewarded with the prettiest view, as the train meanders along the coastline for a few miles. You can jump on and off to a few of the smaller beaches dotted around the area too, and it's much cheaper than the in-town parking.

I haven't been to St Ives for so many years, that everything seemed to different from memory. Hence lots of trawling up and down little alleyways, getting lost numerous times and getting sidetracked by pretty doorways and cute houses!

An hour or so later, the clouds started dissolving into baby blue and we headed down on to the beach to chill out for a while.

And 'chill out' we did. Utterly proud of myself, I did what I'd been threatening to do all weekend. Get brave and get in the sea! 

I felt pretty smug legging it back out of the sea in a bikini when 90% of the (sensible) population had chickened out in wetsuits! Challenge completed, we bundled ourselves up in fluffy towels and headed back on the train to warm up before our night out. But more on that later, as there is way too much food to come to fit on one post...