St Ives

Today's early morning walk was from the National Trust Car Park at Holywell along the South West Coastal Path to Porth Joke (not kidding) and then back inland to Holywell. Today's forecast is not good so we were glad to get this walk in without getting wet. Tough going on the early part of the walk though loose sand up steep slopes, but some good views.

After breakfast we went to St Ives. We didn't meet the proverbial man with 7 wives but we did have an interesting time. We parked the car at Lelant Saltings Park and Ride and caught the little rattler train around the coast to St Ives, recommended as the best way to get to this popular resort. Indeed it was. A very pleasant, if short journey clinging to the edge of the coast on a very interesting line. Apparently it was the last broad gauge line to be converted to standard gauge.

St Ives lives up to its reputation for quaintness and the picturesque, but is quite challenging with a wheelchair with its cobbled streets, narrow pavements and crowds. Still we managed.

We did go to the Tate Modern Gallery but left rather bemused and disappointed. All very earnest and professional but a bit aloof and elitist I thought. Easy to get around the building and plenty of information, but a very small gallery. We've been to a few modern art exhibitions all over the world but still don't really get most of the exhibits. I think I understand it is a way of looking at things and it's a continuum from stuff you can recognise, through impressionism to different interpetations but some of the stuff at the extreme end of the spectrum just has to be taking the michael.

In the shop on the way out there was a book entitled "Why your 5 year old could not do this" which I though was quite a defensive way of looking at it. That's the impression I get from all modern art - I want it to work, but can't quite see it and always feel that people who like this sort of creativity are always defending the works.

Anyway, a walk along Fore Street soon showed us some more accessible interpretations which while not replicating viewss were not quite so far along that continuum as what was hanging in the Tate.

Fortunately the weather, although promising rain, kept dry so we had a very good day all in all. This shot, by the way, was taken in a similar position to one I took in 1991.