Olly's Favourite Place

It's all a bit murky outside this morning. I've already had a couple of run ins with Beryl and Jean. They have taken to sitting in my Dahlia trug. I'm not impressed, but honestly once those silly girls get an idea inside their heads there is no stopping them.

I thought I'd share Olly's favourite place with you. One of our usual dog walking haunts is Porth Kidney sands in Lelant, which is a village on the road towards St Ives. The village itself is very pretty. I covet and would love to have a nose around many of the houses there. Lots of established gardens too.....

There is no summer dog walking ban, so it's the obvious place for us to take Honey (and sometimes Olly the dog and Lily). I've posted a ton of pictures of this place before, but from my point of view - all stunning vistas and plants and moody shots of the sea.

None of the above holds any truck for my Olly. It's the train he comes to see. The St Ives branch line runs along the top of the beach, nestled between the golf course and the dunes. (If you do ever visit St Ives, this is the way to reach it. Park your car at the park and ride, hop on the train and marvel at the coastal landscape as you journey towards the town).

We park up by St Ia church, run along the path towards the beach, hang a left, go over the top and race towards the railway bridge, where we stop and wait. The dogs look at me impatiently. They want to get onto the beach. They can smell it. Honey often barks at us, telling us to get a move on.

 Eventually the train comes and as it goes under the bridge, Olly waves furiously. Passengers wave back, and so does the train driver. He also 'beep barps' which Olly loves! Then we're off again. To the next train vantage point. Once again the dogs need to be patient, as do I by this point - the whole exercise can take up to half an hour. I remind myself that this won't be forever. At some point Olly will barely glance at the trains. At some point Olly may not want to come out for this walk at all. Both Sam and Alfie used to love waiting for the train when they were little. So we wait. The train rocks past once more. Closer this time. Olly waves. The passengers wave back. He is happy.

Now we can go down to the beach. This beautiful beach. With views of the bay, taking in St Ives, Hayle Towans, Gwithian, Godrevy and all the way up the coast. On a good day I reckon you can see all the way to Newquay, but that's probably not the case.

lop sided photography. A speciality of mine..

We sometimes walk the coast path all the way to the end and then run down to the beach. Or we go as far as the life guards hut, and run down the steep path to the sand. Either way, it's run, stop, run, stop, run, stop in that way particular to little children. Running until it looks as if his little legs are going too fast for the rest of him. Whirligig running. Then a sudden stop at something he's noticed. I always marvel at that. That he's all a blur, but is able to notice a little detail, like a caterpillar or some bug.

Finally we arrive on the beach. I have remembered to bring some cars and trains for Olly to play with in the sand. Today he wants to play hide and seek too. He's not very good at it, but it quite adamant that I count to twenty. I'm sure I don't know where he gets his bossy streak from...

Behind you...

Then we go beach combing. For shells, driftwood, sea glass, pebbles, stones that look like birds. Thankfully the tide is out, so no jumping into the sea - I have forgotten to bring a towel or a change of clothes. At the moment Olly is into sea glass. There is no much to be had today - just a few bits. I find some large pebbles with interesting markings and colours, although they remain behind on the beach. The shells and other bits get put into a little bag, and carried back to the car.

Back home we put Olly's beach finds in a bowl, and I read him a favourite book. It was bought for Sam, and has entertained all three of the children. I would highly recommend it.

Not a bad way to spend a couple of hours. Today we are exploring. Who knows where we will end up.

See you later for the happy,

Leanne xx

Postscript

If you punch 'St Ives Holidays' into your search engine, you can look at a lovely video of the beaches that I frequent - 'Godrevy to Porthmeor' I tried to upload it on here, but failed miserably.