Fowey to Looe

I slept reasonably well and I suspect I'd have slept even better had I not been worried about today's walk. The South West Coast Path Association's Guide describes the section between Polruan and Polperro as the most challenging on the south coast of Cornwall - it had tough bits, especially near Pencarrow Head (right) and Great Lizzen, but it wasn't anything like as difficult as I'd expected. Perhaps I should stop reading the guidebooks! The weather was dry but cloudy until we reached Polperro, then it drizzled on and off before turning sunny in the evening.

Kippers for breakfast (very nice) and we left the Galleon Inn at about 9.15am. We bought filled rolls (eggs and salad) for lunch then walked back along the Esplanade to Whitehouse Quay for the ferry across the River Fowey to Polruan. We didn't have to wait very long for the ferry and there was just one other passenger. We were soon at Polruan, described as Fowey's 'twin' on the opposite side of the river. Apparently Polruan is even more ancient and there are lovely views from here back to Fowey.

The path from Polruan meanders its way to and around Lantic Bay, then climbs steeply to reach the path onto Pencarrow Head. We were walking behind three young walkers (we saw them later in Polperro, complete with another young man and a baby - so perhaps they weren't as young as they looked!). After Pencarrow Head we went round Lantivet Bay, past a privately owned watch house, and down to Lansallos Cove, with a curious cutting through the rocks that is thought to have been cut by local farmers to enable them to collect sand and seaweed for the land.

Past Lansallos Cliff we climbed then descended and ascended steeply, but our efforts were rewarded by an unoccupied bench at the top of the cliff south of Great Lizzen. We had lunch here, with excellent views and the warning from the Udder Rock bell-buoy for company. Then we continued past Raphael Cliff (with a rock arch) and Chapel Cliff to Polperro.

We visited Polperro in 2004, but I didn't remember it. It's a pretty place, not too much spoilt by the crane by the outer harbour wall, where they are building a new sewage treatment works! We had a delicious homemade ice-cream....then we had a cup of tea at the 'Treble Clef' cafe.

It was drizzling when we left Polperro; not too much of a problem in itself, but it did make photography difficult and it was also difficult to decide whether to bother with waterproofs. In the end we decided to manage without, then changed our minds at Talland Bay (below left), a pretty little place. At Telland, as elsewhere, the church tower of the inland village was visible from the path.

Around the next headland we passed the Hore Stone and then the larger St George's Island (also known as Looe Island and originally St Michael's Island) and the settlement of Hannafore came into view. When we reached Hannafore it was a bit of a disappointment - it is just the outskirts of West Looe really and it felt rather suburban. However, we were closer to Looe than I'd realised - most of the town is alongside the river (West Looe on the western bank and East Looe on the eastern bank) and is not visible from the coast. We soon reached the mouth of the river and followed it inland, past the statue of 'Nelson' (a blind seal) and with lots of boats tied up. It was low tide.

We crossed the bridge from West Looe to East Looe and the B&B, Bridgeside, was clearly visible above a row of shopts. We climbed up the steps to the left of a greengrocer's shop, and a very friendly man (I think his name was David) showed us to our room and made us a drink. I didn't like the room at all (it was at the back of the house and dark) but this was probably chiefly because I was in a mood because we hadn't had a sea view at any of the B&B's we'd stayed at on this holiday, despite the fact that the Contours literature described all of them as 'overlooking the sea' etc. Perhaps we were unlucky or perhaps Contours are only paying for the cheapest rooms. Who knows. We did however solve the mystery of the four people that we'd noticed at breakfast this morning at the Galleon Inn, also booked with Contours. They are two brothers, originally from Edmonton, with their respective wives. One couple still live in Edmonton whilst the other couple live in Seattle - they walk faster, so they reached Bridgeside just before us, whilst we'd passed the others on the path.

In the evening we went for a potter around Looe, now much more attractive, with higher tide and the sun shining. We had a lovely meal at Papa Nino's, where we were lucky to get a table booked for someone else later in the evening. I went into the restaurant plannig to eat italian, but ended up with Lobster Thermidor, their speciality. Later on, we got a phone call from the taxi driver who would be bringing us back from Portwrinke tomorrow, to arrange the pick-up time. It was good to have this sorted out.

Following day