Our holiday cottage on Station Hill is just a short distance from Lelant Station. As with last night’s rail trip it’s a convoluted route. Heading first to St. Erth, to pick up holiday makers with their buckets and spades, then back through Lelant to Carbis Bay and St. Ives.

Five dismount the train, Lola not so sure of the gap between the train and the platform. Despite the time of day and being a Sunday, the streets are busy with shoppers. Make my few purchases (map, candle and flapjack) from an array of independent shops then head back to start todays walk.

The stroll along Porthminster beach is a treat underfoot compared to yesterday’s mud and rock. The wide expanse of golden sand backed by the low grassy hills dotted with stone and white dwellings interspersed with windswept cedar trees. There’s a parallel stripe going through the trees of the branch line.

At the far end of the sandy beach steep steps take us to Porthminster Point where we follow a road for a short distance before veering left into a wooded hillside popping out onto a residential area. Take a photo of the fine view back along the coast with toy dinosaurs underneath a tall palm – classic!

We weave back over the railway, through wooded clifftops before arriving back into the residential outskirts of Carbis Bay. The dwellings overlooking the sea have been gentrified over recent years. A shame, I wonder if they can still pop round to the neighbours for a cup of sugar?

The Carbis Bay Hotel dominates the seaside village, with its array of lodges recently popped up below the main hotel. Lodge 5 has a plaque with the French flag, Lodge 6 Germany etcetera… There was a lot of money ploughed into this for the G7 conference this summer. How on earth did a little seaside hotel in Carbis Bay get to the host a worldwide conference on the environment?

By this time, we are ready for our Cornish pasty and a mug of tea but sadly no seaside café, just a posh café selling coffee and soup of the day and an even posher restaurant. I’m not sure the menu the maître d offered us would have met our requirements. Sadly, our simple needs are not met so we follow the road up and out of the village, then the steps down on to the cliff. There are few benches around so I enjoy my easy peeler, apple and bag of nuts enroute.

The view back to Carbis Bay is spectacular. Up till now the narrow clifftop paths haven’t been a problem, but Sunday walkers are out in packs with their army of dogs. I’m never sure of the etiquette when walkers stop for you to pass – do you say thank you / good morning to every one or just the person at the lead then smile to the others?

As we turn the corner the golden sands of Porthkidney Beach meld into the extensive sands of The Towans looking like one very long walk. But we mustn’t be deceived, there is a deep river flowing through. Alongside us, as we scramble down to the beach, is a copper-coloured stream.

We’ve certainly timed the tide well. My shoes and socks are off and I go off into a world of my own as I splash through the trickling waves along Porthkidney Sands. Bliss.

As I near the river estuary I reluctantly head towards the dunes and try to rub the sand of my feet. A thankless task, I tug my socks over my damp sandy feet and pull my trainers back on. The scramble up the sand dunes is hilarious, every step up I slip half way back down. Pick our way over the dunes, ducking when we hear the sound of iron on golf ball. We come to Lelant church then through the back streets of the village, admiring the large stone-built properties along the river’s edge before arriving alongside the old railway station, up Station Hill to our holiday home. Just before the rains start.