Classic coast path in the sunshine
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Day 4 - Polruan - East Looe
Author: Dave
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The sun comes out!
Looking back at Polperro - our lunch stop for the day
It was a warm sunny morning when we left the B&B after another fine breakfast. We headed back down the hill and turned left the Russel Inn pub to pick up the path again.
It was a classic piece of Cornish coast with a path running along on the very edge of the cliff under a clear blue sky and I could tell already it was going to be hot. The paths had dried out quite a lot and the going was good under foot. We were making good progress and just before Polperro, we were walking on a narrow section of path which was overgrown with long grass and wild flowers on both sides and I had a pretty good pace going - somewhere between a fast walk and a trot. Suddenly, My right leg disappeared down a narrow deep hole on the cliff side. I managed to stop myself from from going down any further with my hands which would have resulted in a busted leg, but I did twist my knee a bit which had already been giving me some grief this week anyway. I extracted myself from the potential leg breaking bear pit and waited for Jason to catch up. I warned him about big holes hidden at the edges of the path under the cover of the shrubbery. We chugged on towards Polperro all be it at a slightly more sensible pace on my part.
We stopped in a small cafe on the side of the harbour in Polperro for some lunch and a well earned brew. We over ordered and left a bit too stuffed considering we still ahd a good few miles to cover. We headed up the other side of the hill out of the village. There were a lot of people around compared to most of the other section of the path we had walked so far. I guess because we were close to a tourist honeypot and it was a nice day. It is also a nice and fairly easy going stretch of path from Polperro to Looe. Both myself and Jason had walked this in the past on our own respective holidays.
It was a classic piece of Cornish coast with a path running along on the very edge of the cliff under a clear blue sky and I could tell already it was going to be hot. The paths had dried out quite a lot and the going was good under foot. We were making good progress and just before Polperro, we were walking on a narrow section of path which was overgrown with long grass and wild flowers on both sides and I had a pretty good pace going - somewhere between a fast walk and a trot. Suddenly, My right leg disappeared down a narrow deep hole on the cliff side. I managed to stop myself from from going down any further with my hands which would have resulted in a busted leg, but I did twist my knee a bit which had already been giving me some grief this week anyway. I extracted myself from the potential leg breaking bear pit and waited for Jason to catch up. I warned him about big holes hidden at the edges of the path under the cover of the shrubbery. We chugged on towards Polperro all be it at a slightly more sensible pace on my part.
We stopped in a small cafe on the side of the harbour in Polperro for some lunch and a well earned brew. We over ordered and left a bit too stuffed considering we still ahd a good few miles to cover. We headed up the other side of the hill out of the village. There were a lot of people around compared to most of the other section of the path we had walked so far. I guess because we were close to a tourist honeypot and it was a nice day. It is also a nice and fairly easy going stretch of path from Polperro to Looe. Both myself and Jason had walked this in the past on our own respective holidays.
A path on the edge
Looe is split in two by the River Looe. There is a bridge linking East & West Looe and our B&B for the evening was right next to the bridge. As we walked along the riverside towards the bridge we noticed an old boy with a small outboard boat offering 'ferry' rides across. We were only 50 yards from the bridge and would have to walk the same distance to our B&B on the other bank. We decided that as we hadn't had a ferry crossing today we would pay a quid to the man for the 20 second crossing and then walked along to our accommodation.
Looe is a pleasant place and we had both been there several times in the past. It was large enough to have a curry house which was, of course, our dinner destination for that evening. Before dinner though we wandered to the beach and phoned home while sitting in the late evening sunshine. We popped into a pub just on the way back from the beach for a swift pint. It was another sticky floor pub. This had the added benefit of having sticky tables and seats as well. It was in a prime spot near the beach but the place was a complete dump. The area behind and around the bar looked like Steptoe & Son's back yard. The icing on the cake was an ugly bulldog on a long chain so he had the run of most of the pub. He stank ! Imagine that wet dog smell with an added mixture of BO and stale beer and then multiply that by 100. Well it wasn't anything like that - it was worse ! He was a friendly for an ugly mutt though and sat on the windowsill next to Jason for a bit of a fuss. See piccy below - Jason's the one on the right. We drank up quickly and went to find a pub where we didn't need to wipe our feet on the way out.
Looe is a pleasant place and we had both been there several times in the past. It was large enough to have a curry house which was, of course, our dinner destination for that evening. Before dinner though we wandered to the beach and phoned home while sitting in the late evening sunshine. We popped into a pub just on the way back from the beach for a swift pint. It was another sticky floor pub. This had the added benefit of having sticky tables and seats as well. It was in a prime spot near the beach but the place was a complete dump. The area behind and around the bar looked like Steptoe & Son's back yard. The icing on the cake was an ugly bulldog on a long chain so he had the run of most of the pub. He stank ! Imagine that wet dog smell with an added mixture of BO and stale beer and then multiply that by 100. Well it wasn't anything like that - it was worse ! He was a friendly for an ugly mutt though and sat on the windowsill next to Jason for a bit of a fuss. See piccy below - Jason's the one on the right. We drank up quickly and went to find a pub where we didn't need to wipe our feet on the way out.
Jason makes a new smelly friend. No, he's not smiling, that's a grimace.
