Cornwall tourist spots, 8 May

Richard had warned me about Cornwall being a major tourist destination, but I was not prepared for exactly what that meant. Nor was he entirely, for the crowds have grown much worse than when he vacationed here decades ago. I had really wanted to visit St Ives and see the Barbara Hepworth sculpture garden and other artistic attractions, and also to visit the town mentioned in an old nursery rhyme:

Solving the riddle of the nursery rhyme requires English, rather than math, skills–unlike my revision:

The day we visited St Ives
So did 70000 husbands and wives
And each one had 7 kids
And each kid had 7 friends.
Friends, kids, husbands, and wives:
How big was the crowd at St Ives?

Way too big is the answer.

The closest parking was miles away from the sights. Irrationally optimistic (or desperate), we drove into town, hoping to snag a spot. Though we recognized our folly almost immediately, reversing course was not simple. Instead, we had to thread our way through crowds thronging the narrow antique streets, as we prayed that the next turn would lead us out of this claustrophobic nightmare having harmed no one, nor the car, nor ourselves.

So we directed ourselves to other can’t-miss Cornish tourist spots, almost all of them crowded, though none a tenth so bad as St Ives.

Update, August 2022: A comment in the Guardian, responding to an article on St Ives, was one of many that showed we were not simply grumpy, entitled tourists in our opinion of the town:

I have lived in Cornwall for 40 years now, and am only a few miles from St Ives, but cannot even remember when I last visited it. A ghastly overcrowded parody of what a village should be like. Problems of access and parking were bad enough for me to turn down contracts working there before I retired, and many local supermarket delivery drivers loathe the prospect of rounds there, having to park on the outskirts and carry the produce up steep and narrow streets jammed with people and vehicles. You have been warned…. the place is a nightmare!!