Thursday 23 August 2001. Looe is a place we had often driven through but up until today had never found a parking space!
The weather since leaving Polperro has turned grey. It looks like we can expect a bit of rain any time...
However it is by now four o'clock and we want a quick look round and somewhere to eat our meal before heading back towards Newquay.
Looe sits either side of the River Looe (lucky coincidence there...) and the two halves are West Looe and East Looe.
It's one of those harbour walls that can make parents or people with little sense of balance extremely nervous as there are no railings, just one second a firm footing and the next a long drop to either a splash, a muddly squelch (depending on the tide) or a thud as you hit some poor unsuspecting skipper's deck...
There were certainly still lots of people thronging, if not getting in the way of everyone else. We settle on an ancient inn called the Golden Guinea. I had that traditional Olde English meal, sweet and sour pork with rice... Fran had a modern roast beef!
Doesn't this fill you with pride? By now it is raining. The great British public have come on holiday determined to have a good time and...
"Dad I'm wet!"
"Shut up. We've come here to enjoy ourselves, so get on with it!"
"But my salmon paste sandwiches are wet and soggy..."
"Easier to chew - stop complaining!"
We are walking back towards the car park. The kids are still watching their Grandads catching crabs and are keen to show you their captives in their buckets.
The fishing trips are returning also with their catches. Er... just one bucket, lads? Were you trying?
We find a collection of old clockwork cine cameras dating from the 1940s-1950s in a photographic shop window.
