Three Days In Cornwall – Part 2

There is a lovely old poem and riddle that goes like this:

As I was going to St. Ives,

I met a man with seven wives,

Each wife had seven sacks,

Each sack had seven cats,

Each cat had seven kits:

Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,

How many were there going to St. Ives?

In Part 1, we traveled from Land’s End along the southern coast of Cornwall. Now, in Part 2, we will go along the northern coast, from St. Ives to Newquay to Port Isaac and beyond.

First up is St Ives, a fishing town with a lovely beachfront market area and broad, sandy beaches broken into four distinct areas by rocky prominences.  See the above image for the beachfront at the harbor. Porthmeor is a surfing beach; Porthgwidden is a small sandy cove that is set aside for animals, mostly dogs, to have access to the beach and water; the harbor is the working part of the beach; and Porthminster, which has nearly a mile of sand. St Ives has been a tourist destination made easier to get to by the arrival of the train line in 1877. The town is on a steep hillside, which makes driving very interesting. The streets near the beaches are very narrow, although higher up in the newer sections of town the streets are wider and easier to travel. St Ives is a sister city to Laguna Beach, California, among others.

The beach at Newquay at low tide. Image copyright 2023, EnglandForAllReasons.com

Next along the coast is Newquay, pronounced ‘NEW-kee,” another lovely area with a very broad beach and excellent surfing opportunities. Overall, there are nine long and accessible beaches in Newquay. Historically, it has been a fishing town, although in modern times the primary industry is tourism. Also near Newquay is a licensed spaceport, operated with Virgin Orbit as a launch origin for satellites. Rather than rockets directly to space, the Virgin Orbit approach is to carry the rockets on aircraft to a high altitude, then launch them from there to orbit.  Newquay is also purported to be the surfing capital of the UK. One beach, Fistral Beach, is known for having powerful, hollow waves and holding a good swell. Fistral Beach has hosted international competitions for years. There is also an offshore reef known as the Cribbar that produces waves up to 20 feet in the right conditions!

Port Isaac, Cornwall at low tide. Image Copyright 2023, EnglandForAllReasons.com

Next along the coast is Port Isaac, which is known to watchers of the “Doc Martin” television series as Portwenn, the home to the show. In addition, Port Isaac has been used as a location for another TV series, “Poldark.”  Port Isaac is another fishing village, set in a small cove with walls to make a sheltered harbor. The village is very small and isolated, but well worth a visit. At the bottom of the town, right near the lifeboat ramp at the center of town is a lovely eatery named “The Mote,” where we enjoyed delicious fish and chips for  lunch when we visited. The hill down to the village from the parking area is quite steep, but there is a shuttle that for a small fee will take you down and back. If you are a fan of “Doc Martin,” all of the locations are easily found and identified. And even if you aren’t a fan, the town is well worth visiting, just for the sheer beauty and serenity of the location!

Tintagel from Port Isaac. You can just see the bridge to the Castle from the mainland. Image Copyright 2023, EnglandForAllReasons.com.

Finally, along the coast is Tintagel Castle, the castle rumored to be the birthplace of King Arthur, the legendary king. The castle is owned by Prince William, Prince of Wales, in his landholdings as the Duke of Cornwall. It is managed by English Heritage, which supports the site for tourism. The site is known to have been occupied as early as when the Romans were there in the 1^st century, but seems to have been relatively unimportant to them during that time. About all that has been identified as Roman are two milestones that indicate a Roman road passed through the area and a handful of Roman coins dated in the third and fourth centuries. The access to the Castle has been improved from a rough path down steep steps, across a rocky area, and back up steep steps to the ruins. Nowadays there is an elevated footbridge that makes access easier if you can handle the height of the bridge over the chasm. We have not yet visited Tintagel Castle, but might be added to a future trip.

Oh, and just to close it out, the number going to St Ives is one. Read the first line of the poem carefully!