Hayle

Today is extremely windy again, with occasional heavy downpours. I get soaked long before arriving at the seafront proper, having walked along the Hayle River. Here is where the Hayle finally joins the sea, but the miles of golden sand stretch quite a way back along the tidal river front before the coast opens out. In the distance you look west towards St Ives, Cornwall's art colony by the sea, while to the right (but out of the picture) Godrevy lighthouse stands proud off the coast. This beach is an unexpected pleasure, found only after an unpromising approach past derelict-looking industrial bits - then old wooden shacks that sit a little way back among the sand dunes, and finally the deserted sands that just keep inviting you to go on...