A View of St Ives

[Rik]

Went out to get some food and saw the late sun shining on St Ives (Cornwall, UK).
That's not to say that the sun doesn't shine there, it was just such a surprise to see the sight.

So, stopped the car and excitedly went to the boot to get my DSLR camera.
Even before I had opened the boot, I remembered that I had left it back at the apartment.
But, you open the boot anyway! (Why we do this, knowing that there's no point, who knows?!)

So, I just had to make do with taking the picture with the camera on my mobile phone.

Still, it looks not too bad.

[handrawn]

you are on Holiday I think?

my phone don't take pictures like that no matter who is holding it

well snapped

[Rik]

you are on Holiday I think?

With the picture of Penzance to go with this one, it was getting a bit obvious, wasn't it?!

Tomorrow, hope to take pictures of The Lizard.
That's also in Cornwall !!!

[handrawn]

not a day trip from Reading [unless you have a helicopter]

[zaphodeist]

As Rik was going to St Ives
He met a man with seven wives
Every wife had seven sacks
Every sack had seven cats
Every cat had seven kits
Kits, cats, sacks, wives
How many were going to St Ives?

[handrawn]

get a Rik in my neck just Reading that

[zaphodeist]

Many permutations - just wondered how many an actual traveller to St Ives met.

[Rik]

The answer is 1 !!!

But, you've no idea how funny your post is, John.

When we got to Carbis Bay (on Friday) we were too early to check in to the apartment, so went to St Ives (just a few miles away) and walked the streets and looked at the shops (that we've seen many times!) and in one shop window was a tea-towel with this poem.

Today, coming back from Truro, to Carbis Bay, upon seeing a sign for St Ives, Lynn started reciting the poem.
So, when we saw your post, it certainly made us laugh.

[zaphodeist]

I'd answer 1 as well But, ever the pedant, the ambiguity interests me [thank you Wikipedia] :-

All potential answers to this riddle are based on its ambiguity because the riddle only tells us the group has been "met" on the journey to St. Ives and gives no further information about its intentions, only those of the narrator. As such, any one of the following answers is plausible, depending on the intention of the other party:

1: If the group that the narrator meets is assumed not to be traveling to St. Ives (this is the most common assumption), the answer would be one person going to St. Ives; the narrator.

2802: If the narrator met the group as they were also travelling to St. Ives (and were overtaken by the narrator, plausible given the large size of the party), the answer in this case is all are going to St. Ives.

2800: If the narrator and the group were all travelling to St. Ives, the answer could also be all except the narrator and the man since the question is ambiguous about whether it is asking for the total number of entities travelling or just the number of kits, cats, sacks and wives. This would give an answer of 2,800.

2: Two is also a plausible answer. This would involve the narrator meeting the man who is assumed to be travelling to St. Ives also, but plays on a grammatical uncertainty, since the riddle states only that the man has seven wives (and so forth), but does not explicitly mention whether the man is actually accompanied by his wives, sacks, cats, and kittens.

0: Yet another plausible is zero, once again playing on a grammatical uncertainty. The last line of the riddle states "kits, cats, sacks, wives ... were going to St. Ives?" Although the narrator clearly states he is going to St. Ives, by definition he is not one of the kits, cats, sacks, or wives, and based on the common assumption that the party was not going to St. Ives, the answer is zero.

[angelize]

pretty photo Rik. I've always wondered what St. Ives actually looked like. I remember my mom teaching me the riddle as a small child.