To Looe and Back

After what seems like months stuck indoors because of the weather we took ad vantage of a break in the weather to go for a drive last Thursday. The usual debate took place as to where to go but, having heard the weather report  saying it would brighten from the West we headed that way.

Our new car purred down the A38 and we were crossing the river Tamar in about 40 minutes.

This is a toll bridge but you only pay on leaving Cornwall not entering so we avoided any queues and were quickly over the border.

The route was straight forward and rather unmemorable. That area of Cornwall can be rather bleak and grey.

Dropping down into Looe through wooded hillsides and tracking the river the weather did begin to brighten but the clouds still hid the promised blue skies.

We ignored ( Mike) road signs saying no through road and only for access and found ourselves in very narrow cobbled streets which were hundreds of years old. Barely room to pass in many places we were relieved when the road returned us to where we had come form and no one had challenged us.

We found a car park, fed the inevitable meter and set off off foot.

Beside the car park was the river which divides the town in two.

 

The narrow streets were full of interesting shops and cafes and of course pubs and was reminiscent of many Cornish fishing villages.

Here a property dating back to the same time as the Great fire of London

Another piece of Looe history -

The beach was bigger than I expected and people were learning to canoe. Seeing an empty beach in winter  it is hard to imagine it in summer, full of life and excitement.

I one of the streets just behind the seafront we came across a home made pasty shop. Now, I’m not normally a pasty person but they looked so delicious we ventured inside. The choice was amazing including turkey and cranberry but we settled on steak and stilton.

 

Eating it out of the paper bag in the fresh air made it all the more enjoyable although we had to keep a wary eye open for seagulls, ready to pounce.

These two looked very suspicious

We then drove off to Polperro but could not park anywhere near (!) so decided to take the long road home across Bodmin Moor. A lovely drive but don't bother to stop at the famous pub – Jamaica Inn – it has been enlarged, modernised and ruined.

 

JJ