Day 25 - Breaking Dave.

On today's walk I had the pleasure of being joined by an old work buddy Dave 'Slippery' Palmer.

We met at Seaton Beach at 08:30 hrs and set off for Talland Bay (via Milendreath and Looe).

A steep climb out of Seaton along a minor road made the start a bit strenuous, but once you find the path (about quarter of mile outside Seaton) it turns left up through a woodland and then winds it's way along the cliffs for about a mile, before turning back inland to the road.

This part of the coast path involves as much road walking as there is cliff path walking, a road dropping steeply into Milendreath after two and a half miles.

Milendreath has a small beach and a very good cafe (The wife and I frequent it regularly in non COVID times), but otherwise is a fairly unremarkable place, a small valley with what look like prefabs lining one side (they are actually holiday chalets).

It is at the beach end of these chalets that you find a flight of steps which the coastal path follows up through the small hamlet of Plaidy and eventually along the cliffs to East Looe - Except for today, where close to Looe the path is closed due to an incident involving a car that apparently drove along the footpath and eventually crashed (got stuck)!! What was the Driver thinking? The diversion took us higher over the hill and down very steep roads and steps into East Looe.

Looe is divided into East and West by the Looe River, the East side is home to the fish docks and many small shops, bars and restaurants, West is traditionally the 'posh' side.

On the East side, alongside the bridge between the two 'sides' stands Looe's war memorial.

On the West side, there is a statue of a seal that made Looe it's home, named 'Nelson' by locals, a statue was erected of him on his favourite rocks when he passed away in 2003.

Progress to this point was good, Dave was coping (albeit we were walking at a slower pace than I would have under normal circumstances).

Walking out of West Looe, up towards Hannafore you get a nice view of the Banjo Pier and East Looe beach.

We continued on our way, catching up after lockdown and sharing old stories of the railway. Both of us declared ourselves 'relieved' that we got out when we did. Dave being a keen ornithologist kept up a useful stream of information about the birds we saw and those we heard.

As we neared Talland Bay (a further three miles from Looe) Dave announced he would stop at the cliff top and eat his lunch, whilst I treked down the hill and then back up (in fairness, Dave isn't undertaking the challeneg of walking the coast path twice!). So, off I went to Talland Bay.

When I arrived back, Dave announced he was feeling better, but his blood sugar had been a bit off, that was why he stopped. Further investigation by me, suggested a different reason! Slippery was Dave's nickname for a reason, it transpires that whilst I was traipsing down the cliff, Dave stuffed his face with one of his wife's homemade Cornish Pasties! Clearly, had I been there he'd have felt he had to offer to share!

When we were ready to head back, Dave announced he'd be using his poles going back as he was beginning to feel the pace. I obviously stated that poles were for old people, but Dave was having none of it and chose this point to announce that he hadn't walked more than ten miles in about 15 years!!

Progress back was slow, not helped by the fact that the weather couldn't decide whether rain or overcast was the situation. Several stops to put waterproof coats on (or take them off) were necessary and to make things worse Dave seemed to be struggling with Plantar Fasciitis.

The poor man was broken long before we got back to the cars, but fair play, he stuck at it and, he donated some money to my fundraising efforts!

See you in a couple of weeks Dave for another try! North coast this time!