Saturday 25th November 2023 Killigarth to East Looe (and back)

Killigarth into East Looe and back, around 9 miles in total.

I have walked this stretch before, so I was well aware of what to expect.

The weather today was bright and chilly, ideal for walking. Lou, Molly and Lous parents were going to drive into Looe and I was to meet them there. I decided this was a perfect opportunity to do some training and tick off a small section of the path. However, I wouldn’t be doing this section on my own, I decided to take Maggie our 13 month old Border Collie along with me.

As I am so unorganised I didn’t remember the times of setting off and arrival etc, (note to self, take a notebook and pen next walk). I decided to head from Killigarth straight down to Talland bay on the narrow lane called Sand Hill to pick up the path there, saving the walk from Polperro to Talland for another day. The last time I walked this hill was when I was a much younger man pushing a push chair (with child) up the hill. Now in my 60’s, walking down the hill was a real effort and a real strain on my knees, a problem exacerbated by a very enthusiastic young dog trying to pull me down the hill faster than I really wanted to go, all because she had seen the beach at the bottom. When we got down to Talland I was already left thinking s**t, that was a killer and I’ve got to walk back up it later, my legs were already like jelly and my knees hurt. Was demoralisation already setting in with the thought of walking back up there later, ha, not as demoralised as Maggie was when she realised we weren’t actually going onto the beach. When I started to continue onwards and upwards (literally) her tail stopped wagging and her head bowed as she tried to steer me to the right. As we climbed out of Talland Bay The layers started to come off, coat, fleece, hat, by the time I got to the top of the first incline I was down to my T-shirt and sweat was pouring from my brow. This was quite a wakeup call as to how unfit I actually am and my false belief in being fit quickly evaporated, along with my sweat. As I eventually got into my stride the walking seemed to get easier and Maggie settled nicely into enjoying the walk.

Now walking the coast path navigationally shouldn’t be particularly difficult, one would have thought, you either have the sea to your left walking one way, or to your right walking the other way, simples, but oh no, who (who has walked this stretch before) took a wrong turning, oh yes, it can be done! As you reach the headland before Portnadler Bay, Looe island comes into view for the first time, which is a welcome sight, encouraging one to continue apace as Looe can’t be far away. At this headland there are some upright stones and a four-sided way marker. Stupidly, I only looked at one side of this marker and the yellow arrow on it was pointing up a very steep gradient so I (in my wisdom) followed the marker walking up said very steep gradient, huffing and puffing all the way, through a gate and up a further steep gradient. At this point I thought to myself, I don’t remember climbing this high on my previous walk and heading so far inland. Then I remembered I had google maps on my phone and looked to see where I was heading, hmmm, in totally the wrong direction! So, back down the bloody hill we went, cursing my mistake and inwardly blaming the dog for distracting me when glancing at the way marker. In my defence, when approaching the way marker from the west you do see the side that points up the hill first. I could have left this embarrassing bit out of my blog and nobody would know any different, but I promised myself I would give an honest and true account of my journey. We got back on to the right path and continued our journey with the sea to the right, as it should be. As you walk around Portnadler bay, which is a lovely stretch of the walk, there are some steps leading down to a little bridge where a stream rushes down to the sea.

The last time I walked this stretch I had a little incident, I was using a long stick I had found as a walking aid. I relied too heavily on this stick and as I was getting close to the bottom of the steps my stick snapped and I ended up sprawled at the bottom of the steps face first. I looked up to see a young child staring at me in horror, said child promptly turned around and fled. I got myself up from my predicament and was stood there with my wounded pride and a much shorter stick, when said child came back around the corner with mum and dad. Mum gave me a knowing look and said “you ok” to which I replied “yeh fine thanks, just slipped a bit”, “you look a bit muddy and you may need a new stick” she replied, smiling, “yeh, don’t need a stick now, nearly there” I quickly replied and limped off realising more than my pride was hurt.

Today I thought to myself, I will be more careful and make sure nothing happens again. I descended the steps and was close to the bottom when a woman appeared with an old Collie and a ball chucker thing with a tennis ball in it. She politely stood to one side to let me descend the last few steps. It was at this point that the tennis ball fell out of the chucker thing and started to roll away. Now if there’s one thing that Maggie loves to do, it’s to chase after tennis balls and, yes you’ve guessed it, this was her opportunity to suddenly pounce and grab the ball and, being on a short lead, she took me with her. As I started to fly through the air, missing the last couple of steps completely, I thought to myself here we go again, this is gonna hurt. Luckily the woman saw this happening and quickly reached out to grab me and stop my fall, but not before smacking me with the ball chucker first as she put her arms out to save me. Fortunately, she did save me and I expressed my gratitude to her. She however was more concerned that she had whacked me one with her chucker thingy in the process.

The rest of my walk into Looe was uneventful but non the less very enjoyable. I began to meet more and more people walking out of Looe, heading towards Talland, all wrapped up warm in there branded walking gear and fancy footware, whilst I was in my scruffy T-shirt, cammo pants and wellies, (I haven’t bought any proper gear yet). I greeted said people with a happy “good morning, lovely day” to which they would reply “good morning, a bit chilly really” smiling as they passed me in their super thermal coats while I was covered in sweat and probably bright red in the face.

On arriving in West Looe I had hoped to get a Pasty and a cup of coffee at the kiosk along Hannafore, but found it to be extremely busy so I decided I would get something in East Looe when I met up with family. To get to East Looe one has to walk along West Looe quayside and over the bridge then into the town. I met up with family in the shopping area and they were just heading back to the car and back to the lodge. I walked with them back over the bridge, said my goodbyes and started my journey back along the coast path to Killigarth. This must have been my shortest stay in the town ever.

I decided to try the kiosk in West Looe again on my walk back to get my much-deserved pasty and a coffee rather than stay in the town, big mistake! I walked back along Hannafore seafront on the promenade path, which is lower than and hidden from the road. I was getting close to where the kiosk was and the steps up to it when I heard the sound of many motorbikes on the road above. I immediately thought bugger, I know where they’re going. I upped my pace and climbed up to the kiosk to try and beat them but oh no, just as I thought, there they all were, queuing for a coffee. Dammit I thought, I’m starving, I’ll just have to queue with them. As I joined the rather long queue Maggie started to act up a little bit making my being there a little awkward. On trying to calm her down I suddenly realised what her problem was. Directly opposite the kiosk there are five tennis courts, all being used, and all with bright yellow tennis balls flying everywhere. Great! Not only am I stood amongst a load of hairy bikers, but I also have more tennis balls flying around than Maggie has ever seen in her short life, time to move on! I stopped by a bench a little further along past the tennis courts to give Maggie a drink, realising at this point that I hadn’t packed my own drink. So, not only was I hungry, but I was also thirsty, bad planning or what. The dog was fine though, I’d packed everything she needed. Note to self…always double check what is in my backpack. I rang my other half to explain what I’d done, and she offered to drive back into Looe and get me a Pasty for when I got back to the lodge. Now I had good reason to get going on my walk as I would have a lovely cheese and onion pasty waiting for me when I got there.

I noticed some familiar faces as I went along, it was people whom I had passed on my outward journey. The only difference being that their smiles had all but disappeared and they didn’t seem to want to respond to my ‘good afternoons’. They had a kind of ‘I just want to get back I’m knackered’ expression on their faces.

On reaching Talland Bay again I mistakenly reminded myself of the climb back up to Killigarth that faced me. Maggie kept looking excitedly at the beach, but, selfishly, the thought of my pasty and a cold drink drove me on to get climbing the hill. My god this really had to be the toughest part of my walk and it’s not even part of the coast path. I huffed and puffed my way upwards, sweating profusely and letting Maggie go ahead on her lead in the vain hope that she would pull me up. When we were about halfway up, a woman, who must have been not too dissimilar to me in age, was jogging down the hill in her running gear and without a bead of sweat on her forehead. Through my gasps for air I managed to say to her “I hope you’re not going to make this look easy by jogging back up again are you?” to which she replied without any breathlessness “I’ve already been up…. just on my way back down again now”. P**s off and other expletives came to mind. Am I really this unfit for walking or was she just super fit. Anyway, through my grumblings about her and two stops to catch my breath we made it back and I tucked into my pasty, telling everybody at the lodge how easy and enjoyable my walk was.

The following morning, I did have a few aches and pains but these were about to disappear. I had decided to take the re-cycling from the lodge out to the bins, stupidly going out in the wet, down slate steps, in a pair of crocs! Needless to say, my legs shot from under me and I went arse over apex with the recycling flying everywhere. The aches and pains of the previous day quickly disappearing only to be overridden with other pains.