Cornwall
Put a spring in your step with a delightful trip to the southeast of the county to soak up outstanding beauty and intriguing history.
Sensing the need for a holiday, I innocently posed the question, “So, how do you fancy a week in Looe?” Forever witty, my wife, Sarah, replied, “In lieu of what?” Not wanting to be outdone, I retorted, “In Looe of Cornwall, of course!” And that’s how another slightly childish conversation began, culminating in a weeklong trip in our motorhome.
We stayed at the Caravan and Motorhome Club site about a mile out of Looe, at the top of a big hill. To get into the town it is best either to walk through the village of St Martin and East Looe, take a bus or cycle down the hill into Looe in about three minutes. There is a very large car park at Millpool in West Looe, overlooking the river and woods, so taking the ’van down is also a realistic option.
The Millpool car park is an excellent base from which to explore the valley of the West Looe River. Here it is possible to watch the activities of little egrets and grey herons that nest in the oak trees on the other side. There is also access to Kilminorth Woods at the far end of the car park.
The welcoming sign at the entrance to the woodland walk reads, ‘Jack the Giant, having nothing to do, built a hedge from Lerryn to Looe’ This saying, of which there are many variations, refers to a giant linear earthwork presumed to mark the northern boundary of an ancient kingdom. In Kilminorth Woods, where the earthwork ends, it reaches a height of 8ft.
We looked up from clearings to see soaring birds of prey, such as sparrowhawk and buzzard. Ravens often fly over croaking with their characteristically gruff voices.
In spring, great spotted woodpeckers confirm their territories by drumming and the high pitched, enthusiastic ‘key key key’ calls of nuthatches can often be heard. In recent years dormice have been discovered here. At the far end of the walk, near Watergate, we watched a pair of kingfishers flying low over the water.
A walk through Kilminorth Woods is a counterfoil to the bustling streets and harbour of Looe only five minutes in the other direction. Looe is a vibrant place to wander around. There are various boat trips from the harbour and we took one to St George’s Island, just offshore from Hannafore Point.
St George’s Island is often referred to as Looe Island and has had a number of names through the ages. In the eighteenth century the idea of living on an island was likely to be anything but romantic but, in 1781, this island did attract a rather notorious resident who enjoyed solitude for a completely different reason.
A convict who had served his sentence on the Mewstone, off the Devon coast, decided to live here Known as Mewstone Man, he brought his own and another family to the island, where he made a living from smuggling. Two of the three dwellings on the island Smuggler’s Cottage and Jetty Cottage were built in that era, while Island House was built by customs in the nineteenth century to end the illegal trade.
It was Island House that became the home of the island’s most famous recent inhabitants, sisters Babs and Evelyn Atkins. This indomitable pair moved from Surrey in 1965 and, at first, they used the island for market gardening. Evelyn wrote two books about living on the island, which give an amusing insight into the difficulties of living in such a remote place. Cornwall Wildlife Trust now owns and manages the island and it’s possible to take a guided tour watch out for grey seals.
St George’s Island wasn’t the only place known for smuggling. Along the coast is beautiful Polperro and we took the bus there from the site so that we could walk back along the coast path. I recommend a visit to the Polperro Heritage Museum of Smuggling and Fishing.
The smugglers of Polperro were extremely well organised. When John Wesley (founder of the Methodist Movement) visited Polperro in 1762, he reported that, “Well nigh one and all bought, or sold, un customed goods” The authorities did all they could to stop the contraband getting ashore but the smugglers were determined. Skilled navigators helped bring in ships ashore to Talland Bay at night without lights.
This bay is on the coast path from Polperro to Looe and I also recommend a slight detour to the delightful church of St Tallan, which has a permanent history exhibition. In the porch are the old parish stocks and lots of swallows nesting. Along the coast path we found oil beetles and several species of birds, including whitethroat, shag, stonechat, raven, whimbrel and kestrel.
Just before arriving at Hannafore Point there is what remains of a dig of the Medieval Priory of Lamanna. Although there is plenty of information, there isn’t much to see. By contrast, Hannafore Point has lots to see, but not a lot of information. This is a great beach for rock pooling. To learn more you can join a rock pool ramble organised by Looe Marine Conservation Group.
To make use of our new bikes we cycled to Looe to catch the train to Liskeard and then ride down the valley, stopping first at St Keyne’s Well. St Keyne reputedly gave this well to the local people and her blessing conferred on the water an unusual power for any married couple, whoever first drank the waters after the wedding held the power within the marriage.
This tale captured the imagination of the Poet Laureate, Robert Southey, who wrote a poem in which the groom rushes out of the church to gain the first mouthful, only to discover that his wife had taken a bottle of well water with her to the church. Now that’s where I went wrong!
At Duloe there is the smallest stone circle in Cornwall its diameter is less than 40ft but the individual stones are very large and weigh around nine tonnes each.
Between Duloe and Looe the road passes through some beautiful woodland packed with wild garlic. In late April the verdant hedgerows and woodlands of southeast Cornwall are filled with wildflowers. Lesser celandine, greater stitchwort, wood anemone, bluebell, cuckoo pint, cuckoo flower, dog violet and, most of all, primrose are found everywhere.
We took a bus towards Plymouth, alighting in the village of Hessenford for a lovely walk through the Seaton Valley Countryside Park, following a small stream through woodland. This may be an embarrassing admission, but it was at this point that I needed a ‘comfort break’, so hid behind a tree next to the river. In mid flow an otter popped out of the water a few feet away from me, took one look in my direction and immediately splashed back down.
We stoked up our energy levels at a café in Seaton before continuing towards Looe on the coast path. Climbing the hill out of Seaton we found some beautiful early purple orchids. The walk from here to Millendreath is spoiled slightly because the path is diverted inland due to cliff subsidence. But every cloud has a silver lining; the constantly slipping ground on these slate cliffs prevents scrub and trees from shading the ground and thus makes it ideal for wildflowers and butterflies.
The diversion also leads past the Monkey Sanctuary, which once bred woolly monkeys for release, but this ceased in 2001 because the chance of successful release became more remote. Since then, the sanctuary has continued to rescue monkeys from the pet trade in the UK.
Venturing slightly further afield, we took the ’van onto Bodmin Moor. Only a few miles north of Liskeard are a few of the moor’s highlights we started with Golitha Falls. From the car park it’s an easy walk through woodland along the river to the cascade of water.
In the mid nineteenth century prospectors found copper ore in the valley and a great effort was made to mine it. Leats were dug, taking water from further upstream along the side of the river valley to two large water wheels. It is estimated that these wheels were 30ft in diameter and the wheel pits are still in good condition. Have a look on the walls of these wheel pits and you might find the rare Tunbridge filmy fern, which looks a little like a seaweed.
The indisputable beauty of this ancient sessile oak woodland is not the reason for its selection as a National Nature Reserve; it is the ferns and bryophytes which make this valley so special.
From Golitha we drove to the village of Minions to see the three stone circles known as the Hurlers. Legend has it that the Hurlers were men turned to stone for playing a ball game on the Sabbath Remnants of settlements and cairns can also be found in the area.
A further 20 minute walk brought us to the Cheesewring, probably the most famous tor on Bodmin Moor. This pile of stones, formed by the erosive power of wind, rain and frost, stands atop a hill. It’s a little close to the edge of a quarry for my liking! The redeeming feature of the quarry is that a pair of ravens nest here. It’s wonderful to see a raven’s nest at such close quarters.
We’d packed a lot into our week; there’s a huge amount of historic interest and the flower packed hedgerows and verges are stunning. Hills make it challenging for bike rides, but it meant that I did not gain any weight despite eating a lot of cake!