Anyone who may have read my past reviews will know I have walked the whole of The South West Coastal Path. Although this took 6 years (blame the pandemic!) one thing I decided was that I LOVED Cornwall. I may have enthused a little too much to friends because when 2 Canadian friends came over to visit they insisted on spending a little time there. (We did manage to fit it in even though we spent over 3 weeks in Croatia beforehand!) (See Croatian reviews!)
So I had booked us a caravan at Tencreek Park in Looe. Our train journey (from London, changing at Liskeard) went smoothly and we got a bus from Looe station to the caravan park. Unfortunately my Canadians were having a taste of typical English weather and it was peeing down when we arrived. Caravan parks don’t look great in the rain and this was no exception. The caravan was cold and dismal. (In fact we later got moved to another caravan as our gas fire didn’t work and there was a distinct “wet” smell about the place). However the staff at Tencreek were very helpful. (I had booked on one of those newspaper offers and I tend to think that they put people who have paid large discounts in the worst caravans. The caravan we were moved to was much nicer and felt warm and cosy and was obviously of a better quality. It seems a little unfair to me!)
Anyway my friends were keen to start enjoying the Cornish countryside (despite the rain) so we got the bus into Looe and wandered around the few shops that were still open). There are so many pubs and restaurants in the town that we were spoiled for choice and eventually ended up in the Smugglers Cott. Excellent food, a drink and we had soon forgotten about the rain!
The next day we were woken by a sea gull tapping on the door!! Obviously someone before us had been feeding him. He looked very indignant when he realised we had nothing for him! We headed off to Carnglaze Cavern in Liskeard today. We managed to find a bus that went quite near it but then had trouble getting a taxi the rest of the way. We ended up walking along a busy A road. We were walking in single file, like three ducks, and I was having heart palpitations trying to remind my friends which side we drove on in the UK. We finally arrived (safely) and had a tour of the cavern. I have visited caves in the past and find them a bit dark, gloomy and boring but this one is well worth seeing. The tour (after the safety briefing) is pretty much self guided. We could go at our own pace. Some parts are lit (such as the deep pools) and there is an area that hosts weddings and disco’s. It is a favourite for goth brides it seems! We wandered around the old slate mine and there is also a woodland walk and a small cafe and gift shop. The weather was lovely this day so I sat in the garden and got talking to the owner who was a lovely lady. She even offered us a ride back to Liskeard as there is no public transport to the Cavern (as we had previously found out!). From Liskeard we got the bus to Polperro. What a lovely place it is! This was the Cornwall my friends had come to see. A lovely picturesque village with a small beach and a harbour. We dined in the roof garden of The Three Pilchards. The meals were enormous and the staff couldn’t have been more helpful. The view from our table was stunning and everything my friends had hoped for.
The next day we went back into Looe and booked a “boat safari”. A dinghy took us out to our boat and one of my friends was rather worried to see that it looked rather like a speed boat! It was! We spent the next 45 mins being bounced around, sitting astride a seat as if we were on a bucking bronco ride! One of us was not amused!! However we got to see and to get very near to some grey seals. It was incredible, they were perched on the rocks and as the tide was coming in they were trying very hard to not get swept off. This was near Looe Island. We then went into Talland Bay and then on to Polperro Bay (a chance to see the picturesque village from a different viewpoint). Although one of us would not agree, it was a lovely trip and the seal spotting was the icing on the cake! However we were a little cold and wet afterwards so we headed back Tencreek to our (much nicer now) caravan and had food from the restaurant there. There is also a swimming pool there but we did not have enough time to try this.
The next day we decided to get the bus to Liskeard (instead of getting the branch line train from Looe to Liskeard)so we managed to see more of the countryside. The Canadians were amazed at how the buses get down the country lanes. I even think it might have been the highlight of their trip – watching the buses trying to manoeuvre
round the tiny roads!
As I have already said, I LOVE Cornwall and now I think it has two Canadians fans as well.
