Day 5 - South West Coast - Lands End & St Ives

I drove from Mousehole to Lands End, the most south westerly point of England. When I arrived, it was raining, and foggy. There was a queue ten cars back from the kiosk, where they were charging £4 to get in. And then I saw the sign that said there was a shopping mall. I decided to give it a skip and carried on to St Ives.


A shopping mall at a place with a romantic name like Land's End? Not sure it works!

St Ives has a talked-up reputation, and deserves it. It's about four times the size of tiny Mousehole, with a bigger harbour and waterfront, but it has the same charm. It's busier with tourists, and there are more designer boutique stores. But the town still has "old charm" written over it, the streets are too narrow for SUVs, and they twist and turn randomly, as if the town's builders woke up every morning and threw a dice to see in which direction they'd build an alley way. It's romantic.

Cornerways B&B suits St Ives well. It's classy, yet reasonably priced, in the old part of town, on a hill that overlooks the harbour. The building is an old three storey fisherman's cottage, with narrow staircases. Inside, it's renovated, modern in a maritime way and very comfortable. For attention to detail, Cornerways deserves a good mention. And because the rooms are stacked at odd angles and at different heights, you feel like you're in your own small flat, with couch, table, and ensuite bathroom. And a view of the harbour. And there's a seagull that perches on the roof of the neighbour's house, staring into your room while you're changing. No wonder it's squawking at me so much.


Room at Cornerways...the windows look out onto the pic below...

...Where a seagull squawks at me while I'm changing.

Have lunch at the Cornish Pasty shop just down from Cornerways, on the promenade. For £2 you can have a medium sized traditional pasty (steak, potato and veggies, wrapped in a light tasty pastry). I had two!