UK Trip Day 6

Day 6 was a gentler one on the hire car — just a short cruise along the coast to Looe, the next seaside town over. It’s the kind of place that feels instantly holiday-coded: a pretty little beach village packed with restaurants, cafés, pubs, ice-cream shops, boutique gift stores, and roads so narrow you swear they were designed for wheelbarrows, not modern cars.

But the real show-stopper wasn’t on the main strip — it was the history literally carved into the cliffs. Old structures built right into the rock face, quietly nodding to Looe’s maritime past… and its more mischievous chapters too. There’s something about coastal towns like this — you can almost hear the echo of tides, trade, and the odd smuggler’s sprint up a back lane.

After a couple of hours wandering through lane ways and boutiques, we headed back to Polperro for round two. We parked up in the big public carpark above town (again) and made the descent into the village — and honestly, it doesn’t get old. Polperro is pure storybook charm: cottages leaning at improbable angles, wonky walls and crooked windows that somehow make everything feel warmer and more alive. The footpaths twist and climb, splitting into staircases, alleyways, and hidden little nooks where shops and eateries sit tucked behind each other on different levels. Every corner feels like an invitation — surely there’s something else down there…

It’s the off-season, so plenty of places are closed for winter, but that only made us imagine what it must be like in summer — buzzing, heaving with families, sunburnt kids clutching ice creams, and pubs spilling out into the lanes. Even quiet, these villages have a kind of energy — the sort that makes you want to keep exploring until the light disappears.

Daily Tally:

13k steps
9km
2 pubs