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Looe & Polperro, South-West Coast Path

Looe & Polperro, South-West Coast Path


Postby poppiesrara » Sun Sep 11, 2011 8:03 pm

Date walked: 04/09/2011

Time taken: 5.75

Distance: 19.5 km

Ascent: 940m

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A nice long (and quite tough and undulating - look at that ascent figure above!) walk between two pretty south Cornish harbour towns, out inland in the only sun of the weekend through the woods and hills above the sea, and back along the South-West Coast Path between the heavy showers.

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Looe, with some of the tourist eyesores that are starting to afflict it well-hidden, looks lovely in the sunshine, split by the river at high-tide. A good path climbs above the western branch of the river through the woods, following the 'Giant's Hedge' - not the most spectacular of earthworks perhaps, but a nice woodland walk. It's then back lanes and paths undulating, sometimes steeply, back down towards the coast at Talland and then on to Polperro.
1 Looe harbour, high-tide.jpg
Looe harbour, high tide

2 East Looe River.jpg
East Looe River

3 West Looe River.jpg
West Looe River

4 Resting point beside the Giant's Hedge.jpg
Resting point beside the Giant's Hedge

5 Descending to Talland Bay.jpg
Descending to Talland Bay

6 Back to Talland.jpg
Back to Talland

7 Polperro harbour.jpg
Polperro harbour

8 Entrance to Polperro bay.jpg
Entrance to Polperro Bay

The Coast Path from there back to Looe is a really good walk, especially in its second half when the path is less vegetated and the views down the cliffs to the sea constant. Although the Path is quite popular (and very well marked), the area around is quiet, littered with secluded little beached bays that look almost inaccessible and jagged rocks jutting into the sea.
9 View east from near Downend Point.jpg
View east from near Downend Point

10 Talland Bay.jpg
Talland Bay

11 Talland Bay.jpg
Talland Bay

12 Sea-stack, Aesop's Bed.jpg
Sea-stack, Aesop's Bed

13 Hore Stone from the Coast Path.jpg
Hore Stone from the coast path

14 St George's Island.jpg
St George's Island

15 View down cliffs from Coast Path.jpg
View down cliffs from coast path

16 Samphire Beach.jpg
Samphire Beach

17 Hannafore Point.jpg
Hannafore Point

18 Banjo Pier, Looe.jpg
Banjo Pier, Looe

19 Stormy view of Whitsand Bay.jpg
Stormy view of Whitsand Bay

20 Fortifications, West Looe.jpg
Fortifications, West Looe

21 Looe Beach.jpg
Looe Beach

This route might never climb very high, but it's rarely flat, and there are some pretty testing gradients - this walk was more of a test than a lot of mountain routes, but still well worth the effort.
Last edited by poppiesrara on Fri Oct 19, 2012 8:42 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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poppiesrara
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Re: Looe & Polperro, South-West Coast Path

Postby houdi » Sun Sep 18, 2011 6:15 pm

Great to see a walk report from someone else on the SW Coast Path, particularly as I hope to be doing the south Cornwall coast next year. Started the north Atlantic coast back in February and have reached Cape Cornwall so far. Only 5 miles to go to Lands End! Long way to go for a walk though. I take it you were on holiday at the time?
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Re: Looe & Polperro, South-West Coast Path

Postby ndhudson » Sun Sep 18, 2011 7:55 pm

Fabulous walk, poppiesrara! Shot #8 of the entrance to Polperro bay is stunning!
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Re: Looe & Polperro, South-West Coast Path

Postby ChrisW » Sun Sep 18, 2011 8:09 pm

Great report P, those coastal wanders really accumulate some ascent don't they, fantastic views of the stunning south west :D
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Re: Looe & Polperro, South-West Coast Path

Postby poppiesrara » Sun Sep 18, 2011 8:34 pm

Thanks, everyone!

Houdi - yes, a short holiday: have family in Looe and have been there nearly every year for as long as I can remember - which makes it pretty shameful that I've never walked as far as this before... I'm not sure the Coast Path in the area (especially east of Looe) is quite as spectacular as on some of your northern stretches, but it's still a lovely bit of coast. Good luck with the impressive 'full Path' mission!
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