Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
CAR
St Ives' narrow streets make it a living nightmare to drive around in summer. Unless you
want to spend your time roasting slowly inside an automobile-shaped oven, avoid driving
into the town centre at all costs.
The best idea is to park at one of the large car parks around the outskirts. The largest is
Trenwith, which is a long walk uphill from town, but has 759 spaces in summer, 311
spaces in winter.
Other options are the car park next to the station (106 spaces) and the large car park
next to the Island (155 spaces). There are also small car parks next to Porthmeor Beach,
the Sloop, Smeaton's Pier, Park Avenue and next to the Barnoon apartments.
An even better plan is to park at the train stations at St Erth or Lelant Saltings and catch
the train into St Ives - much less stressful.
TRAIN
The scenic branch line runs via Carbis Bay, Lelant, Lelant Saltings and St Erth (£3, 14
minutes, half-hourly), where it links up with the main London-Penzance line.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Gwithian & Godrevy Towans
Four miles drive east of St Ives over the Hayle Estuary, the dune-backed flats of
Gwithian
and
Godrevy
unfurl in a glimmering golden curve that joins together at low tide to form
Hayle's much-lauded '3 miles of golden sand'. At the southwestern end is the
Hayle Estuary
,
once a busy harbour, while at the opposite end, the
Godrevy Lighthouse
perches on a rocky is-
land and is famous for inspiring Virginia Woolf's stream-of-consciousness classic
To the
Lighthouse
.
The beaches are backed by acres of grassy dunes (known in Cornish as
towans
). While
popular, there's usually ample space for everyone even in the height of summer. Both
beaches have car parks, but unsurprisingly spaces can be hard to come by on busy days.
Godrevy is National Trust-owned, so members can park for free assuming they can find a
space; extra parking is usually available at a nearby field. A resident colony of grey seals
can often be spotted at the bottom of a cliff near the point.
Gwithian's reliable breaks are a favourite for surfers, and make this a fine place to learn
surf school, and one of only four BSA Schools of Excellence.
