England 2025- The light of St. Ives

They say the light in St Ives is different. I didn’t believe it, after all they have the same sun as the rest of the world, but you have to be there to see it. The light really is different. The only word I can think of to adequately describe it is: soft. Like someone has put Vaseline on the lens to soften an aging silent film star. 

It’s soft and delicate. Diffused and golden. At first I didn’t notice it, even though I was looking. It was only when at the harbor facing out to the turquoise sea that I finally saw it. The famed St Ives light, coveted by artists for over a century. 

I asked my husband to tell me his impressions of the light in St Ives and his immediate answer was “magical”. He didn’t skip a beat and followed that up with “I felt like I was dreaming”. 

We sat at a cafe facing the harbor and I decided it was time to look up why the light really was different. There had to be a reason for this, otherwise we are having a group hallucination. The first explanation and the most obvious is the lack of pollution, both in the air and the water. Clear skies and even clearer seas. I don’t know if this is true but our impression was and still is that the people of St Ives, nay the people of Cornwall as a whole are very protective of their land. I would imagine they have done everything they can to keep out industries that pollute, and contain litter. I’ve mentioned this several times over the years but England feels like a nation of litter bugs. I know I’m generalizing and painting everyone with the same brush but litter and “tipping” as they call it is so very prevalent, it’s disappointing. I once watched a very well dressed elderly couple eat their lunch on a park bench in the picturesque Victorian spa town of Buxton finish eating and wad up their brown paper packaging, tossing it over their shoulders into the bush behind them. It genuinely made me want to cry seeing it. Cornwall, it seemed was devoid of litter. 

The cafe where we had our coffee

I read an article that stated the amount of sunlight a place receives greatly affects the mood of those who live in and visit that place. As someone who lives in a very sunny place, I agree with this sentiment. Cornwall receives about 1540 hours of sunlight making it consistently one of the sunniest places in all of the UK. Does this abundance of sunlight mean people seek out a trash can? Maybe not specifically but my theory is the more treasured the place the higher likelihood that you’ll look after it, ie: put your trash in a bin/not roll down your window and throw your empty food containers out. This theory has its flaws, after all I did see plenty of litter on the grounds of Windsor Castle, but that might be more of an anti-royalist move? Or just ruder tourists? Either way, St Ives doesn’t have empty soda bottles bobbing along in the water. 

The Gulf Stream brings warm air from the Caribbean and that warm air clears the sky on a spring day. There were plenty of clouds when we arrived but the landscape of St Ives protects it and the clouds rolled off into the distance leaving the town itself in a pocket of blue. This meant we got the full effect of the suns reflection off the granite cliffs, white washed buildings and sea floor. To quote my husband it was “magical”.

We walked along the very narrow streets on our way to Smeatons Pier which trick you into thinking they are pedestrian only until a delivery van comes hurtling around a corner and you find yourself perched on a ledge in front of someone’s front door. Sometimes you take your life in your own hands in these narrow streets. We made our way to the end of Smeatons Pier and got a birds eye view of the crystal clear water. St Ives has minimal sediment run off due to the fact that there are few major rivers that empty into the sea, this fact with the addition of calm seas means you see the sea floor as clear as if the water wasn’t there. The sunlight reflects on the crushed granite sand and white seashells giving the water a sparkle that only adds to the unique atmosphere. I’ve never seen water so clear or vibrant. The shades vary from cerulean blue, turquoise and aquamarine. Some of this color comes from phytoplankton blooms that peak in spring and summer. We were in St Ives at the end of May when the activity was high which meant the marine algae was really showing off giving an almost luminescent look, adding to the otherworldly nature of our view. Our previous trip to Cornwall was during a storm that settled for the entire week we were there. We did not see the famous turquoise sea but instead saw a sea that reflected the slate grey of the sky. This made our second time in Cornwall all the more special. There is nothing like seeing a place at it’s peak. 

I thought I got a photo of this street- that little ledge is where we had to perch when a delivery van came around the corner, this definitely wasn’t pedestrian only!

St Ives was one of those places that we weren’t in a hurry to leave. We spent as much time as possible wandering the streets, finding excuses to stay. It was unfortunate for us that we were on a time constraint and couldn’t spend our entire afternoon pretending that this was where we lived. As gorgeous as it is, St Ives is known for being an absolute madhouse in the summer months. Tourists flock to this little town center of 5,400, swelling the numbers way past capacity. The car park we parked in had 759 spaces alone. The people of this little town must feel like they’re in one frustrating traffic jam all summer long. No quick nip out to the shops for you. As it was we were stuck in bumper to bumper the closer we got to the town. 

I’ve done this post a bit backwards, but now that the scene has been set you can imagine the excitement and anticipation of our 45 minute drive from Newquay to the seaside town I’ve been waxing poetic about.  

Actually it started with a spectacular 5:30am sunrise from our flat in Newquay. This view quickly became one of my favorites ever. Every morning that we were there I woke up literally at the crack of dawn, catching every single sunrise. This is where jet lag can be your best friend. These quiet mornings still stick out in my memory, and have routinely become a place in my mind I go back to when I need some peace and calm. So, like the mornings before and the mornings after I started the day with a piece of toast and a Cornish sunrise to rival all sunrises.  

Our drive to St. Ives was mostly uneventful except for the appearance of a tall granite Celtic cross on Carn Brea hill and DJ Dave’s Anthology Road Show van, which came off the heels of a discussion about whether Dave or John is the most popular middle aged man’s name in the UK. The van pulling in front of us proved the point that it is indeed Dave. I can’t even tell you how hard we laughed at this. Sometimes the universe plots in your favor just to give you a giggle.

We parked above the town at the Trenwith Car Park. Let me tell you, if you choose this parking lot you are in for the hill of your life. I wasn’t prepared for the steepness which was just as painful going down as it was to go up. If you want to be humbled then walk the hill from St. Ives to Trenwith Car Park. Looking back through my photos I realized I never got a photo or video that depicts the severity of the hill- I think I was too busy struggling for my life and feeling sorry for myself to actually document it. The path starts across the street from the car park next to the St. Ives Brewery. At first it’s a switchback so it’s not bad at all, and then… heaven forbid you trip on your own feet because you will be rolling with nothing to stop you until the end. 

We made it to the town center unscathed but dreading the walk back. At first it doesn’t seem like it’s much to look at and I wondered what the hype was about and then we found ourselves in the narrow warren of streets chock full of souvenir shops, bakery’s, clothing stores and restaurants along the harbor. The charm kicked in on overdrive. 

Our immediate goal was to find the harbor and some coffee. Hindsight being 20/20 and all, we should have stayed in St Ives for lunch and had a Cornish pasty. Instead we had planned to have lunch in Penzance which would come back to haunt me later. Since this was still the beginning of our trip we were still being quite frugal, trying to make our budget stretch over the two weeks. I passed up many a souvenir that I regret passing up. I think a part of me hopes that we’ll go back someday so I can relive this experience and get a fridge magnet. 

After a delicious coffee we begrudgingly left St Ives behind for the dreaded walk back to the car park and a date with what I can only think was light food poisoning. Coming next time… more steep hills- it was a day of unexpected exercise.