Polperro and Looe for Paul's Birthday

After Paul's birthday lunch yesterday we were asked if we'd like to join them for a day out-and-about re-visiting old holiday haunts of Paul's around Polperro and Looe. So at ten o'clock they came down to pick us up and although it was a bit cold it was thankfully dry. We made our way to Polperro (with a minor detour when Paul missed the exit to the A38!) and we parked up in the huge car park which was surprisingly not very busy. This should have given us a clue but we put four hours on the ticket so we could have a good mooch about, coffee in a little cafe somewhere and maybe a bit of shopping in the little craft shops. Oh no - Polperro was dead. Virtually nothing was open. Okay so it's February and not half-term week now but we were expecting a little bit of life in the place. We walked down to the harbour ...

and saw the fishermen ...

and nearly got splashed by the waves ...

It was too cold to hang about so we made our way back past the fish cold storage units with this lovely decoration on the outside ...

past this wonderful sweet shop ...

Nelsons Restaurant ...

Almost back to the car and we spotted this big water-wheel called Crumplehorn Mill ...



Just inside the car park were the horse buses waiting for the season to begin ...

We now decided to try our luck at Looe and so drove over there to park up. This looked much better - there were quite a few cars this time! After walking over the bridge we went along the harbour wall passing this seagull having a quiet 5 minutes rest on a boat ...

through the town where little side alleys disappear and the church is visible at the end ...

and down to the sea which wasn't looking too friendly ...

On our way back into town we passed the Museum which unfortunately was closed ...

and then lunch was mentioned. Where else to eat in Looe but a fish and chip restaurant where the fish couldn't be much fresher! Paul tucked into his ...

and we managed to get ours at OAP price by flashing our bus passes! It was delicious ...

After lunch we wandered back to the boats along the harbour wall and Jo had her photo taken by a yacht with particular significance for today as it was the anniversary of her father's passing ...

I of course photographed the yacht moored in the middle ...

and the bridge ...

I seem to have a thing about bridges as there are some really beautiful ones that we've seen on our travels. We now walked back over the bridge and into fresh territory for us. We'd driven down this side of the harbour a few times but had never walked along it before. Jo and Paul had stayed in a hotel up on the hill many years ago and so they knew what was at the end of our walk. He's called Nelson ...



The end of the path ...

Turning back we could look over to where we'd been earlier ...

and then I spotted this in the wall by the road ...


I just loved the spelling from 1689! It was now a short step across the road and back to the car which was overlooking the boating lake. In the distance I could see a small train approaching Looe Station ...

We ended the day by stopping at Trago Mills for a quick look round and then it was home to see what our respective Westies had been up to in our absence!