5 miles walked today
1056 miles walked in total (10.56 average)
Mum, Dad and I were parked and ready to walk just before ten o'clock today. We'd woken up to very grey skies and were fully expecting rain, but were very lucky indeed all day.
As we walked through West Looe along the quayside, we watched an egret in the mud and followed a baby seagull with a crab in its mouth as it hopped along the harbour wall. We followed the road up the hill towards Hannafore Point where we were on the coast path proper through fields and up and down between hedgerows towards the look out point at Hore Stone. We saw a kestrel, numerous buzzards, three tiny stonechats and Dad complained about the hundreds of butterflies divebombing him as he walked!
We took it very steady today - about a mile an hour! But it was good fun and I kept pointing out that it wasn't meant to be a race. Shiriin had told me a story earlier this week about a conservationist friend of hers. When the groups build steps into paths, they put really steep ones in to deter elderly people from going along a path where they might get into trouble so these steps are called "granny stoppers"! I told Mum this and she was less than amused! Especially as we were going up quite a steep hill at the time.
There were lots of benches along the path today which was good, although we didn't sit on them all! There were loads of walkers about today too - a veritable little highway.
We were looking forward to a cup of tea at Talland Bay and I was quite nervous that the cafe would be closed for the season. However, we weren't disappointed! Talland Bay was lovely, with lots of purple coloured rock that looked, from a distance, like it was covered in heather. Absolutely gorgeous.
We had a little bit of uphill after Talland which soon levelled out and we stumbled upon a granite cross covered in the names of Royal Navy personnel lost during the Second World War. From here, the path was fairly flat with just a slight slope downwards. We could see a small lighthouse on the edge of the cliff and big paths going up the next headland. Dad was quite perturbed that we'd have to climb these paths, but I checked the map and the lighthouse was where we needed to divert inland into Polperro.
Nothing could have prepared us for the village though - absolutely perfect. To come into it from the cliff path is definitely the way to see it - the small harbour full of boats and the extremely narrow streets full of houses and no cars was brilliant. We had a good long mooch around, a beer in the pub, a sandwich down by the harbour and a leisurely stroll up to the bus stop to get back to Looe.
It's been a great day - I've really enjoyed walking with Mum and Dad. I ignored all the comments about "not respecting your elders by dragging us up all these hills" and I'm sure they enjoyed it really. (The photos of them looking knackered and laying on their beds when we got back to the flat would make most people think they'd had a rubbish day, but at least they were smiling!)
But it's been quite sad too - this is the last walking day of my holiday and I have to admit a few tears have been shed. I won't be walking for some time now as it's too far to drive down for just a weekend. I'm going to have to find another hobby now for a while. Not for ever though - I'll be back!
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