Paid collaboration with Bailey of Bristol
Part Two
Beaches, Beaches, Beaches!
As we learned from our experiences on the Cornish South Coast and how narrow some of the towns and villages can be we made sure to check properly before heading north to St Ives. We found that the St Ives rugby club is a great location to park especially for larger vehicles. The walk into town isn't too far then.
We loved St Ives; it is such a beautiful coastal town with stunning views sweeping right across the coast. The little harbours with glowing turquoise water create a stunning landscape that could be associated with a more tropical climate. St Ives is full of yummy little bakeries, so many beautiful crafted donuts and other goodies. We got some very yummy sourdough roll sandwiches for lunch and ate them overlooking a beautiful beach.
We left St Ives and headed along the coast towards Gwithian Beach. There is a restaurant called The Rockpool Cafe and you can stay in the car park overnight for £10. This was perfect for us as we could do a sunset surf and then also get up early to explore the coast and surf more. It was very windy in the evening and the photos looked epic with a golden sunset. The tide was out so we could walk right along the beach and past rocky areas that normally block off sections of the beach. Eventually we made our way back to the van as we could only pay for our overnight parking from 10pm. The sky was now glowing as the sun made its final farewell for the day.
The next morning we woke and drove the 5 minutes up the road to the national trust car park which we could stay in for free all day because of our membership. The whole beach area is called Towans but is separated by names into smaller beaches which the tide cuts off. We went for a walk along the cliffs to spot seals sleeping in little sandy coves. The whole coastline is incredibly beautiful and we could have spent all day hiking here.
We walked back to the beaches and climbed down a rocky face onto a beach that sits to the right hand side of Gwithian. We decided to go there as the surf looked great and the beach itself was empty because it was cut off by the tide. Gwithian beach was busy with lots of surf schools and sunbathers and we decided to just avoid it. Even when the tide went out later in the afternoon, this section of beach remained surprisingly quiet. After one of our favourite beach days yet we returned the board back to our friends at the Gwithian Academy of Surfing who had very kindly let us borrow it, big shout out to Ian and the team! We decided to have dinner sitting outside at The Rockpool Cafe before walking back up the road to our van. It's always nice having such a comfortable home on wheels, we both had a quick shower to wash the suncream off before carrying on with our journey. We had not yet stayed in any place for more than one night and our next destination made it easy for us to camp up a little longer.
We found a very nice campsite called Treago and it was our favourite of the whole trip. We set up camp and got our awesome BBQ from Cadac out. Massive thanks to Prima leisure for helping supply out kit. With the awning out, our wet suites drying and the burgers cooking we sat back and relaxed for the evening.
The next morning we were in serious need of doing some clothes washing. The campsite had two large washing machines and dryers and after a couple of hours we had fresh laundry and booked that second night on the site. We were excited to explore the area and not have to worry about moving on. We walked up towards Polly Joke beach and explored several little coves and beaches. We even managed to find a seal basking in the sun.
We carried on around the coast and made our way to Holywell beach, the beach itself is made famous as a regular filming location in the Poldark series. It was a big beautiful beach, we found a very quiet section to spend the afternoon sunbathing on. When the tide went out we searched the caves for the sacred Holy Well. After a bit of looking we found it in a cave which we had to squeeze through into a pitch black chamber. There was water dripping from the roof of the cave and the eroded floor of the cave had formed a bowl, this was the Holy Well.
We drove the short distance the next morning to the Poly Joke car park where we left the van and then walked several miles across Crantock beach, and through the Gannel Estuary which was currently at low tide and any water remaining was very shallow. When we got up the other side we carried onto another beach on our list Fistral. The world famous beach is known as a surfers beach and the beach that I first ever stood up on a surfboard. The beach itself was heaving with people and so we decided to stay on the cliffs above to capture some photos before moving on to get some ice cream. After making our way around Fistral and back toward the Gannel Estuary the tide was in. The ferry was closed and we could either walk several extra miles around or wade through the water which would have been about chest high. We were told about a small bridge that is submerged by the tide but makes the crossing a bit easier and only waist deep. We were warned to be careful and not fall off of the side though. We decided to go with the bridge as we didn't fancy risking our camera gear. The crossing was a lot of fun and we very much felt like we were on an adventure. When we finally got back to our motorhome we had walked 10 miles on the hottest day of our trip so far and I was wearing flip flops and my toes had blistered up.
We needed to find a place to stay for the night and we wanted to be close to the Bedruthan Steps. We found a field that an estate allowed people to camp on and park all day. The guy charged us £15 and there were even toilet and water facilities. The beach was closed because the steps were in a bit of disrepair according to the old man at the gate. We later found out that a rock fall had damaged the lower section of steps, there was a bit of dispute between the estate and the National Trust as to who should make the repairs. We still managed to get some sunset and sunrise photos of one of the most beautiful beaches and rock formations in the entire UK. We set off in the morning for Treyarnon beach which was another beach we were asked to visit by Bailey. We had a challenging drive to the beach as a couple sections of the route were very narrow and it was only made worse by other cars coming in the other direction. There was literally no room on either side of the van and we had to wait patiently as we found a small section of driveway that we squeezed into and waited for the cars to work their way around us. After checking the maps later we found that there was a better alternative route.
We found a local golf club that kindly let us park in their overflow car park as there was no way we were making it into the beach car parks. We walked along Constantine Beach before working our way around to Treyarnon Beach. Treyarnon has a lovely natural swimming pool in the rocks, when the tide is out it's almost like a cliff top pool overlooking the beach. After admiring the beach we made our way back to Bedruthan Rocks for some lunch and also to take photos of the van overlooking the cliffs and ocean. After waiting for some low cloud and mist to pass we managed to capture some photos that we were happy with and then set off for our final destination Bude.
We arrived in Bude and our destination was Summerleaze beach. We had a quick look around the town before heading to the beach. The canal leading to the beach is nice and the tidal swimming pool on the edge of the beach is a great place to swim. The sun was getting low in the sky and the golden sand was lighting up. We then went to the Mermaid fish and chip restaurant who were very kind and gave us a bit extra.
We were sadly at the end of our epic Cornish adventure. We had loved every minute of it and the comfort and flexibility of our Bailey motorhome made the trip. We also loved the fact that we were able to bring Tia and Skye along with us and we were so happy with how well they settled into van life.
There are still many places that we want to return to Cornwall to visit as we simply didn't have enough time during this tour.
Big thanks to Bailey of Bristol and the team for hooking us up with one of their fantastic motorhomes. The perfect way to get away during this crazy Covid-19 situation.
If you would like to see the range of motorhomes and caravans that Bailey has to offer then click here.
