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Padstow Harbour

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barbara
barbara
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4 out of 5
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Padstow and St. Ives

  • April 14, 2008
  • Rated 4 of 5 by barbara from Atlanta, Georgia
Padstow and St. Ives

One of the things that people do when they visit Cornwall is walk through some of the lovely towns. Padstow and St. Ives are very close to each other, so I'd advise seeing them on the same day. Coming from Port Gaverne, we started in Padstow. This fishing town is on the Camel Estuary, and it has a shifting sand bar with the name Doom! Apparently, this has caused more than one sailor indigestion as many wrecks have happened here over the years. If you poke through the town as we did, you will find lots of cute shops... some of which sell tourist tat, of course.

With the dog in tow, we were happy to walk by the boats and find a place selling Cornish Pasties. Then we claimed a bench, and watched the seagulls flying over the water as we ate. Traditional Cornwall fare, pasties were a sailor's original fast food. A hearty meal wrapped in dough, it was easy for them to eat on the go without making much of a mess. They come in all kinds of flavours. I had a mushroom and cheese pasty while my husband went for steak and gravy. There are sweet cornish pasties as well... things that are more like pieces of pie you can hold in your hand than anything else.

After Padstow, we drove south to St. Ives. Another Cornish fishing port, this town is the most known for hosting artists. There are galleries galore to explore including the Tate, and it's easy to see from the harbour where so many painters find their inspiration. My husband and I took turns with the dog outside while the other looked at paintings. Then we walked by the golden beaches, wandered through the maze of stone streets, saw an ancient church, sipped coffee and just... absorbed the ambience. With a chill still in the air, we didn't find St. Ives crowded. However, I could imagine the flocks of people who must descend at the height of the tourist season in summer.

Even so, on our way back to our hotel from further southern reaches, we skipped St. Ives and chose to park again in Padstow because we thought it would probably be easier to get dinner there without reservations. There are clusters of restaurants/pubs by the water in every price range. We chose a casual pizza joint that managed to find us a table.

Bottom line? We enjoyed the half day of time we devoted to these towns. If we were in Cornwall for more than a weekend, we would have certainly lingered longer in both of them.

From journal Canine in Cornwall

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