Day 3 - St.Ives to Lelant - 4.2 miles

Day 3 was always intended to be a "rest" day with a chance to see the best of St.Ives and catch up with nursing any blisters we'd gained over the first week. 

As it happens, our feet are in pretty good nick so we've been able to really enjoy the day.

St.Ives seems charmed. As well as the pretty harbour it has a number of attractive beaches sheltered from the prevailing wind all of which have beautiful golden sand and inviting azure water. The popularity of the town hasn't gone unnoticed by the not inconsiderable seagull population. Attempts at discouraging them from roosting seem not to have been too successful so far!!! 

Our first call of the day was to St.Ives Lifeboat station where we met Paul one of the fundraisers. He decribed various schemes they have to improve employment opportunities for the beach lifeguards who otherwise have only seasonal jobs.

I passed on greetings from the Littlehampton crew and volunteers.

We'd arranged to meet Sharon, a friend of Sally's for coffee and sat in warm sunshine overlooking Porthmeor beach on which by mid morning there were hundreds of people enjoying the surf. 

The Barbara Hepworth garden is a haven of tranquility in the middle of the town  - a gorgeous space. 

For lunch, we did what we deduced you're supposed to do in St.Ives and found our way to the harbour and sat on the sea wall sampling our first truly Cornish pasty - we can both vouch for their rightful place on the World's culinary map!! - delicious.  

While sitting there, we got talking to a British woman and her family on holiday from Vietnam who turned out to be a primatologist specialising in the conservation and reintroduction of endangered lorises. It turned out she'd studied under my cousin Robin at Liverpool. It's a small world and amazing what conversations you can get in to while enjoying a pasty!!!!!

This afternoon, we were inspired to walk further along our route to take the sting out of tomorrow's long walk and found our route taking us through the Carbis Bay Hotel where the G7 met last year. Very swanky!!

Then on over the headland to finish at St Uny's Church at Lelant which lies on one of the pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela. We're all connected!!

 So connected, that without having to wait more than a few minutes, we managed to catch the bus back to St Ives.

Bracing ourselves for tomorrow!

Total distance so far = 28.7 miles

Total ascent so far = 3904 feet