New Installation at Tate Modern.

Thursday 19th May 2016 - to Hayle.

The weather forecast isn't too good for the next few days.  We can't have it all!  Today was supposed to be dry but dull whilst other days involved rain, so we decided to give St Ives a visit enroute to our next site near Hayle.

We have both been before but Janice was very young.  The town is pretty but commercial, not on the scale of Blackpool but it certainly has more art galleries per square mile than anywhere else I know.  Most of the galleries have the same style of paintings that predominantly use the colour blue (for sea and sky).  The town is also home to the Tate St Ives and those that know me will know my views on modern art!!  You will understand how sad I was to find out that it was shut till 2017 for renovation!!

However, I was pleased to see that Tracey Emin had done this thought provoking installation of scaffold poles and builders skip outside the museum.  I think it is part of her health and safety period!  She has certainly improved since she did the 'unmade bed'.

St Ives itself was, by its own standards, rather quiet (just as we like it).  The harbour and beaches were beautifully clean but it was very overcast and it did start to rain.

We had an obligatory cup of coffee to escape the rain and then browsed the shops before cycling back to our van that was parked up about 4 miles away.

Next stop was my favourite pasty shop at Hayle.....it's called Philps.  They make them on the premises and I remember eating many of them on previous holidays.

We wasted no time in buying a couple for our late lunch.  They were certainly fresh and piping hot.  I was trying my best to be objective in my judgement of the pasty.  The one we had at Porthleven has been the best so far and would be hard do beat.  Reluctanly I felt the Porthleven pasty is still the best but it was a close call.  The Philps pasty was really good and had good sized pieces of tender meat, it was also beautifully seasoned with the right amount of pepper but the Porthleven pasty clung on by virtue of meat the melted in the mouth and perhaps a slightly more moist filling.  I will be having a second  or third tasting over the next few days as we are staying near here for a few nights.  The competition isn't over yet, not till we leave Cornwall.

Our site is outside Hayle near the very large beach and sand dunes.  It is a proper Caravan Club site so we will be able to catch up on our washing etc.  The sites are usually of a good and consistent standard with a good range of facilities.  We may even have a shower.  ....The fact I mention having a shower will probably make you think that we don't otherwise wash our clothes or have showers and go around stinking.  Well, I must correct you....we do have our own shower in the van and we do wash stuff as we travel.

In the evening we went for a walk over the dunes onto the beach.  It is vast....

It's probably 3-4 miles long.  We managed to walk along the beach for a while and apart from two surfers there was no one else to be seen.  It was a bit chilly though!