Two morning walks in Hayle

We spent a couple of days in Hayle last week for Auntie Mary's funeral and went for a couple of short walks in the morning.

The first walk took us past the site of the new North Harbour Bridge which will sit alongside the old swing bridge. In the distance (in silhouette) can be seen St Elwyn's Church.



The swing bridge is now in the middle of a building site. Built in 1880 (or 1877 according to some sources) the swing bridge carried the Hayle Wharves Branch line over the Copperhouse Canal. This line ran from 1852 to 1879and carried goods from North Quay to Hayle Station. The swing bridge is one of the oldest remaining in the country.



The view down the estuary towards the sea shortly after crossing the swing bridge. St Uny's Church, Lelant can be seen on the skyline to the left of the picture.



We followed the path through the site along the estuary until we came to the car park and a big sign showing where the Hayle Kitesurfing Zone is. The area is better known as the beginning of 'The Towans'.



The name ‘Hayle’ comes from "Heyl" which is Celtic for estuary. The word 'towan' means 'sand dune' in the Cornish language. The picture below shows the view from the headland at Hayle Towans across wide expanse of Porth Kidney Sands with St Ives in the distance.




Looking north you can just see Godrevy Lighthouse.



Across the estuary you can see St Uny's Church, Lelant, The church is medieval and entirely built of granite. It was restored in 1873, at a cost of £1,175, by J. D. Sedding.




A heron looking for breakfast.



The second morning we again crossed the swing bridge only this time we headed along the King George V Memorial Walk on the north side of Copperhouse Pool. The walk is about 0.6miles long and was created in 1935 to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of King George V and Queen Mary.



A view across the Pool towards he church of St Elwyn. The church was built in 1886-88 to the design of J. D. Sedding. According to Pevsner it is ‘loud outside ... and dull inside’ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayle. I have not been inside so cannot comment.



Copperhouse Pool was built in 1788. It was used as a storage reservoir to hold back water at high tide. At low tide the water was let out, scouring out the channels leading to the sea allowing larger ships to enter the harbour. The development works going on at the moment aim to restore this process. The Pool is now an RSPB Nature Reserve.



Another bird (a curlew)looking for breakfast.



Swans on the water.