As I was going to St Ives,
I met a man with seven wives,
Each wife had seven sacks,
Each sack had seven cats,
Each cat had seven kits:
Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,
How many were there going to St Ives?English Nursery Rhyme (in the Form of a Riddle)
Although we didn’t encounter a polygamist and his cat ladies on our journey to Saint Ives, we did encounter an entertaining dog who “threw” his own ball. He would drop the ball on a grassy slope and watch it roll down the hill toward the sea, and look over at his owner expectantly for a signal. When she gave it, he ran down the hill, grabbed the ball, and ran up hill to repeat the process.
Quite the entertainment after a long day of hiking. Sorry we didn’t get video of the pair.
Day 2 of the Walk
Day two of the walk started with a tour of the Geevor Tin Mine in Cornwall. This region was a hub of tin mining for hundreds of years until prices crashed late in the last century and drove local mines out of business. The Geevor mine survives as a museum complete with interactive displays and a short walk through an old mine. What it doesn’t include is a tour of the extensive tunnels under the nearby Atlantic which were kept open only by pumping millions of gallons of water out—each day.
One characteristic of Cornish culture is the pasty—pronounced past-ee. If you pronounce it paste-ee you’re calling to mind a Super Bowl half-time wardrobe malfunction—NOT a cornerstone of Cornish culture. The pasty is a meat pie that can be eaten by hand. It was a perfect meal for miners as it stayed warm within its crust. The miners, whose hands often had arsenic on them from the mining process, could hold onto the edge of the crust as they ate, and then toss aside the contaminated part. We’ve become quite fond of them.
After the mine tour, Laurie, Trev, and Kim embarked on a close to six mile hike under cloudy skies. I took the bus back to our Penzance flat as my foot was acting up. As with day one, they encountered roller coaster trails and amazing vistas. They also encountered—a herd of cows ensconced in the middle of the trail. Laurie tried to negotiate with them to move along. When that didn’t work, Kim clapped her hands loudly and they cooperated. Kim is clearly the cow whisperer.
They also encountered several horses who were happy to let them pass, in return for a toll of Laurie’s apple.
No Relive video of Day Two—Laurie had some kind of failure when recording. Here is a selection of photos.
Day 3 to Saint Ives
I recovered enough to join the group the following day for the almost nine mile segment that concluded in the charming seaside town of Saint Ives—subject of the riddle above. The weather was clear, albeit at times windy, and we encountered many more hikers than on any of our other days. The vistas were amazing and the cows left calling cards on the trail, but kept it clear.
Click on the following link to see Laurie’s Relive video
https://www.relive.com/view/vYvEGGmy8w6
The Riddle
Anyone want to take a crack at the “As I was going to Saint Ives…” riddle with which we started this post? Requires surprising little in the way of math skills.