Looe (England)

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This time its Looe that I want to tell you about. So before you get comfortable may I suggest you nip off to the other loo and hurry on back for another ‘scatty’ epic!

We visited several towns and villages while we were in Cornwall last month, some of which I have no desire to pay a return visit to but this is not one of those places. I would go and live in Looe tomorrow if I had the chance!

We actually ...
...still in the History mood! Looe is actually two towns, West Looe and East Looe. A very old multi arched bridge that crosses the Looe River connects them. When we visited the tide was out and it was nice to see people taking their dogs along the river edge for a walk, but I suspect that it is even more of a delight and picturesque when the tide is in.

We parked the car right by an old, what looked like an old boating lake to us. My ... more

Hullo there! I’m back! Fully recovered from my evil bout of flu. Normal service about to be resumed. Is anything ever ‘normal’ as far as I am concerned? Nah!! Ok, on with the Cornish ops!

This time its Looe that I want to tell you about. So before you get comfortable may I suggest you nip off to the other loo and hurry on back for another ‘scatty’ epic!

We visited several towns and villages while we were in Cornwall last month, some of which I have no desire to pay a return visit to but this is not one of those places. I would go and live in Looe tomorrow if I had the chance!

We actually came across it more by accident on our way back from Plymouth. We weren’t all that keen on that place but then to be fair to it we didn’t really get to see much of it and I will keep an open mind on Plymouth. I would have liked to spend a bit more time here.

The bridge across the River Tay is amazing though; quite a feat of engineering and it bought back all those memories of past History lessons when I read Isambard Kingdom Brunel on the side of the bridge! They are doing a lot of renovating work though so it’s not all that ideal a place to visit just to see the Taymar Bridge at the moment.

Anyway I am meant to be doing an op about Looe, so let us head off there now. Got your seat belts fastened? Ok lets away then!

A bit of culture first methinks, seeing as I am still in the History mood! Looe is actually two towns, West Looe and East Looe. A very old multi arched bridge that crosses the Looe River connects them. When we visited the tide was out and it was nice to see people taking their dogs along the river edge for a walk, but I suspect that it is even more of a delight and picturesque when the tide is in.

We parked the car right by an old, what looked like an old boating lake to us. My apologies if I have got this wrong, if you know better please correct me? I would hate to upset any Looers!! This was an excellent place to park as it had us right at the bottom of the town. A future op I am planning about another similar town saw us having to park at the top of the town and walk down to the sea. Ok on the way down, a bloody nightmare going back up again. But back to Looe for now.

We crossed the bridge linking the two Looes into East Looe and then sauntered quite contently through the town. We visited in the first week in September, it was quite busy but not unbearable so, I would like to bet that it gets a vast sight more busier than this in the height of the holiday season?

I was astounded at the size of the seagulls along this party of the town! They sit atop of cars parked in the car park almost taking food from your hands! Mind you I wouldn’t fancy these monsters walking all over my car and then pooping on it! Its bad enough having to park my car under a tree at home that is frequented by 2 wood pigeons that delight, I am sure, in aiming straight for my windscreen at least twice a week!

It was along this first stretch of road that I discovered the first of many shops that I simply had to visit, Abbey bears! No need really to tell you what they sell, is there? I managed not to succumb to the huge teddies in here, but settled on a tiny little white suede cutie, much to my husband’s wallets immense relief!

As you wander along the road you are only vaguely aware that you are going up, steeply. The delightful shops either side of this twisty narrow road do much to divert you from the effort of ascending! Half way up we decided perhaps that a spot of lunch was in order. I forwent any ideas of eating on the run, saying that it would be nice to actually sit down and get a meal served to us for a change. Cornish pasties are almost unbeatable but this time I wanted to sit and eat at leisure!

We picked a small place just by the look of the outside of it called The Archdeacon. It isn’t all that special inside with peeling walls, unadorned with any garish paint effects instead relying on its quaint ‘olde worldy’ charm to entice patrons in. Without risking boring you to death too much I will just say that we all had a very lovely, and more than adequate in terms of quantity scampi meal, served quickly and in a friendly manner!

Fully replete after our meal we continued our stroll along the charming little streets stopping every now and then when a particular shop caught our eye. It is right here, right now that I simply HAVE to tell you about one such shop, or gallery to give it its correct name.

Clive’s Cat’s Cartoon gallery!
It is simply a wonderful art gallery/shop where a bloke, presumably Clive draws and sells the funniest cartoons you have ever seen. I swear if you stand inside this shop and look through some of his work within minutes you will be laughing out loud, you just won’t be able to help yourself! Don’t believe me? Check out his great web site then:

www.clivescats.com.

It must be wonderful to have a job like this that you really enjoy, that you can share with other people, make a living from and live in such an idyllic little town to boot. Not envious at all, spit spit!!

To whet your appetite and encourage you to visit the web site, a bookmark I bought has a picture of a cartoon cat, called Barry on it. Barry is doing a wonderful impression of a rocket with the words underneath him, “ Pickled onions make life more fun”. As I am writing this op I have the website minimized on my tool bar, the music playing is cool too! If you do check it out I would love you to let me know what you though about it?

I very reluctantly dragged myself away from here; I could have stayed all day just watching him work, and we continued our stroll around East Looe.

We eventually came to the harbour. It’s the kind of place that you could envisage being a little sanctuary after a busy day at work. The pace of life seems to have gone down a gear or two. I would like to have come back here for an evening and just sat watching the boats come and go.

Fishing trips are widely advertised on various boards along here. Evidently it is a well known centred for shark fishing. Before we got to the harbour I forgot to mention that we came to the beach first. It was all but deserted, my kind of beach:o). It stretched around a curve and I think I am correct in thinking that is protected by a jetty known as Banjo Pier, so named because of the unusual shape.

I am not given to beach holidays where you sit all day on a beach going pinker and pinker and then spend the rest of the evening finding sand where there oughtn’t to be sand, but I could have happily spent the day here. I would have taken a flask of tea and a sketchbook; I would have been in heaven:o). As long as it wasn’t too crowded, as I should imagine this would be in July/August. I shall stick to visiting in September I think.

We spent a lot longer in Looe than we had intended to, it is that kind of town, and there is so much to do. Probably not for kids though. But then if you went for the day you could leave them on the sheltered beach while you indulged in a spot of retail therapy!

As I sit here putting the finishing touches to this op I have a calendar picture in from of me of Looe by night. Now that is something else I am going to have to see for myself, for real! The little houses clinging to the cliff sides, as though some huge hand has scraped them all up and hurled them at the cliff and there they have stayed and delighted tourists and the locals for many, many years. They are all ablaze with lights and the reflection off the sea is a sight to behold!

There are many little towns and resorts in Cornwall built such as Looe. With houses precariously perched along the steep harbour walls and higher. Fowey, Padstowe, Polperro, Mevagissey. The list is seemingly endless. We haven’t visited them all yet but for now I have to say that Looe is my favourite.

As far as I can tell it remains relatively unspoilt by tourism, which very obviously brings in all important revenue for the town. But they seem to have settled on a perfect balance between the necessary tourist shops and attractions and the desire for Looe to remain the little treasure that it is on what is fondly known as The Riviera Coastline of Cornwall.

I for one shall be going back there at some point in the future and hope that it remains as delightful and unspoiled as it is now. I somehow think it will. I don’t see ‘the powers that be’ allowing it to be anything else but.

Thank you!
Kazzie
xx
 

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