Tag: St Erth

A Grockle’s Eye View of Cornwall 4: The End of the St Ives Day

The latest post in my series “A Grockle’s Eye View of Cornwall”, concluding my account of my day out in St Ives.

INTRODUCTION

In my previous post in this spread out series about my recent visit to Cornwall (Thursday July 12  through Monday July 16) I covered a boat trip to see a seal colony. I now account for the rest of that day after the trip. Don’t forget that a more local view of St Ives is available from The Cornish Maid.

BACK ON TERRA FIRMA

I was back in St Ives at 1:15PM as scheduled, and had two definite targets for the remainder of my time there – find a cash machine and find somewhere not too extortionate for lunch. By this stage the town was packed, and far as I was able to locate there was a but a single cashpoint there, so I had a bit of a wait. Still I eventually got my money and found a place to have lunch.

statueMemorialCutlery and condiments

Victorian house
This building may once have been a non-conformist chapel.

Lighthouse II

THE RETURN JOURNEY

I was back at the station in good time for my three stage journey back to St Germans (changes at St Erth and Liskeard, and longish waits at both). My father collected me from St Germans and we headed to Cawsand to meet my mother, sister and nephew at a pub there before heading to Fort Picklecombe together. My camera battery just made it to St Germans before giving out for the day after one more picture en route for Cawsand.

St Ives for home journeyBoat through the treesView through the treesRiver meets the seaRiverriver mouthbirds, Lelant SaltingsTrain, St ErthSt Erth stationBranch line cafetrain departs for PenzanceIncoming trainMarshland IIIRiverside viewCamborne mapTownscapeback at St Germans

View from the car
I suspected (rightly as it turned out) that I had only one shot left by this stage, and this view, from the heights above Cawsand, seemed a worthy way to finish my photography for the day.

A Grockle’s Eye View of Cornwall 2: St Germans to St Ives

The second post in my series about my visit to Cornwall, in which I cover the journey from St Germans to St Ives.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the second post in my series about my recent vsiit to Cornwall. As mentioned in the opening piece in this series I am breaking my coverage of my day out in St Ives into several posts. This post deals with the journey there (for the record, a day return from St Germans to St Ives costs £10.80), which is very scenic. For a Cornish perspective on St Ives check out this offering from the Cornish Maid.

ST GERMANS TO ST ERTH

The railway element of the journey to St Ives consists of two parts – a journey west along the main line as far as St Erth (penultimate stop on that route), and then a short journey north along a branch line which terminates at St Ives. St Germans to St Erth is a scenic journey in its own right:

Folk waiting flor 0927 to LondonConverted Carriage ISt Germans mapConverted Carriage IIGWR service to LondonGWR service to London IIGWR service to London IIIOld Oak Common locoUpgrade bannerSt Germans stationThe Bodmin and Wenford Railway curves away into the distanceAbove the line to LooeBodmin ParkwayBodmin and Wenford RailwayBodmin and Wenford posterLostwithielParSt AustellRedruthTowerPart of TruroCamborneCamborne II

Camborne III
I was particularly glad to note this tribute to the great Richard Trevithick.

ChurchesHayle

ST ERTH TO ST IVES

Though the route from St Germans to St Erth is scenic by any normal reckoning it is as nothing compared to the branch line from St Erth to St Ives. Although the route lists several intermediate stops the only one still in regular use is Lelant Saltings. I secured a window seat, although it turned out that I was not on the best side of the train and settled down to see what I could capture in the course of this journey.

Sea viewMarshlandMarshland IILelant Saltings

Heron, Lelant Saltings
The stop at Lelant Saltings enabled to me to zoom in on this heron.
River flows into Carbis Bay
The next few pictures feature mhy attempts to capture the beauty of Carbis Bay from a moving train.

Carbis Bay ICarbis Bay IIwatchpoint, Carbis BayPromontory, Carbis BaySt Ives StationWalks

A SNEAK PREVIEW OF THE MAIN FEATURE OF MY NEXT POST

A few minutes after my arrival at St Ives the decision about my main activity while there was settled. It will be the subject of my next post – for the moment here is a clue to whet your appetite:

seal waves a flipper

The Journey To Penzance

An account of the journey to Penzance, setting the scene for my next post, about Penzance itself.

INTRODUCTION

This is continuing my account of my visit to Cornwall. We have reached Saturday, which for me featured a trip to England’s westernmost commercial railway station (note England not Britain – Arisaig on the Glasgow-Mallaig line in Scotland is further west), Penzance. The closest station in time terms to my parent’s new home is St Germans, and that is where my train journey started.

ST GERMANS

St Germans is completely unstaffed, and therefore, since there is no one to maintain it, has no ticket machines either. Tickets are purchased from the conductor once you are on the train. You are only allowed to do this at unstaffed stations – boarding without a ticket at a station where you can purchase one renders you liable to a penalty fare of £20 (I heard another passenger who had done this escaping with a warning not to do it again).

I had a bit of time at St Germans (given that the next train to call at St Germans was two hours later this was indubitably the sensible position to be in. Here are some photographs from the station…

TimetablesRoute mapSGRUGSt Germans MapSt Germans waiting areaView from the footbridgeView from the footbridge 2Holiday accommodationsgrug@btinternet.comHelp Point, St GermansHoliday accommodation IISt GermansDisplay, waiting area, St Germans

GWR

www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk

The ticket issued by the onboard conductor is much bigger than a standard train ticket. 

Tickets

THE JOURNEY TO PENZANCE

Taking pictures through the windows of a moving train is not especially easy, although I did at least have a window seat for the entire journey, so was never shooting across people. After leaving St Germans the train called at Liskeard (change for the Looe branch line), Bodmin Parkway, Lostwithiel (although the name might suggets otherwise as far as I am aware no elves live here!), Par (trains to Newquay depart from here), St Austell, Truro (Falmouth services diverge here), Redruth, Camborne, Hayle, St Erth (branch line to St Ives from here) and Penzance. Here are the pictures from this journey…

View from the train, just beyond St GermansFrom the trainLiskeard through the windowLiskeard stationThrough the window IIThrough the window IIIWoodland with visitor centrebirds through the windowLostwithielLostwithiel StationDiscover LostwithielLostwithiel signNew build, LostwithielThrough the window IVParbranch line train, ParBodminBodmin IIBodmin IIIEng worksSt AustellSt Austell 2Discover the Tarka LineHouseTruro CathedralTruro Cathedral IIITruro Cathedral IVLeaving TruroTownscapeTruro (1)TruroRedruthWaiuting area, RedruthWaiting area, Redruth IICamborneCamborne IICamborne Townbench, CamborneCamborne platformHayleHayle platformPlatform InfoWHHTownscape IISt Erthapproaching PenzanceApproaching Penzance II

PENZANCE STATION

These pictures were taken both on arrival at Penzance, and towards the end of my time in Penzance.

GWR mapChanges to train times

Tiles, Penzance
This was my first effort at capturing this tile picture…
Tile Picture
…and this, later in the day, was my second and final effort.

Penzance Welcomes YouPenzance StationIncoming traintrain at Penzance stationPoppy displayThrough train to London PaddingtonPenzance Station, looking outWall picturesWay OutNational Rail MapPenzance Station 1Incoming