The plan
8.6 miles\592m ascent\8% average grade\3:09 hours of strenuous-then-moderate walking to The Bungalow (Cs) and Finnygook Inn (Ls). Second last day!
Reality
Nice stay at Driftwood House, though nothing particularly memorable about the house or the room, and it was oddly far from Looe itself. I think I’d choose somewhere in East Looe, closer to facilities. Hosts were a husband and wife. The husband sat with us at breakfast and chatted about Seattle and America and Trump, and he helped to make it an overall positive experience.
We walked from lodgings to Looe, past the one-eyed seal statue.
Crossed the bridge into East Looe. Such an interesting arrangement of moored boats!
A bit of a climb out of Looe (there always is out of towns!) but some varied terrain ahead, including this unusually wooded trail.
And stunning wheat fields…
It was nice to be on open cliff tops, though as usual it was blazing hot.
A look back at Looe, which seemed to get no further away. That island is the same one we looked at from our bedroom window.
When we got to Portwrinkle, we were way early since it was such a relatively short walk. So we lingered at The Jolly Roger cafe for a bite to eat. I was stunned to see these two items on the wall. It took me a moment to realize it was HMS Scylla, the scuttled boat that my stepsister died in as a result of a diving accident in 2009. I hadn’t realized this was where it is. Very sobering looking out at the open water and thinking about her.
We endured the crazy walk up to The Bungalow at 4pm. Stunning view and overall nice, but oh my goodness that hill…we had to climb it again coming back from dinner!
We had dinner at Whitsund Bay Hotel. We’d got very nervous about the dress code–our itinerary said it was long pants\collared shirt\shoes. Two of the three of us had no such clothes with them. But in fact, the dress code really boiled down to “no short-shorts”. We giggled ourselves senseless in the bar before the meal, when a guy in shorts\flip-flops\copious tattoos appeared, followed not long after by someone in shorts and a life jacket, with the straps of the jacket between his legs pulling the shorts upward so they practically were short-shorts. We were in top hat and tails in comparison!
The dining room at the hotel was beautiful and most of the food was great, except for my main course. I had saddle of lamb, and it tasted unpleasant and was the toughest lamb I’ve ever had. Maybe the warning was the word “saddle”?! Or maybe it was really mutton? The restaurant took the feedback well and didn’t charge for my entree (which I barely touched.)
We retired to the lounge for coffees, before heading back up the monstrous hill.
