Best Loos in Looe

A

aowen

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Joined
20 Jan 2007
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39
Location
North Somerset
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On an extended West Country tour we have spent the last 3 nights in Looe, a destination that seems to be avoided by many cruising yachtsmen. The approach and entrance pose no problems although outgoing tidal eddies on both sides of the harbour even on the flood may cause some problems at springs. Once inside there are 2 alongside visitor berths immediately upstream of the first set of steps after the new Quayside Centre on the west wall. Bring your own fender boards. The Quayside Centre ( a modern glass,steel and stone structure) replaced the old shower block shown in most pilot book photos. These house the new toilet and showering facilities which a Harbour Commissioner described as ' the best in the West'. We could not agree more. The berths dry to firm sand with a little soft mud. Electricity and showers are included in the nightly fee of £15. A water tap is available on the Quay. West Looe has facilities to meet most cruisers need: the Jolly Harbour pub, a small grocery store and delicatessen, a local Spar , laundry and swindlers. Pengelly's fishmongers in East Looe is definitely worth a visit with lots of restaurant options available. The walk to Polperro is highly recommended as is a visit to ' Nelson', the bronze seal statue that graces the western foreshore. On the downside the seagulls are vicious here but I am eternally grateful that cows can't fly!
 
Cheers - I always wanted to go there in Kindred Spirit, an ideal boat for drying harbours. Sadly I never managed to align weather, crew, time off from work and other commitments, and never made it down to the West Country before we sold the boat.

I wouldn't be very comfortable drying the new boat out against a quay, so Looe is now off limits to us :(

Pete
 
I have anchored off in settle weather for a day or three, v pleasant. The passage inside of Looe island is fine at HW too but a tad disconcerting seeing the rocky bits underneath as you tiptoe over em..
 
Looe is a bit inconvenient for us as it's too close to Plymouth for consecutive tides but too far away to get there on one high water. I did have a go once and was told by the HM that the visitor's berth was clear but by the time I got in there were 2 or 3 small boats on the berth and I had to turn short round with about 3 knots of tide trying to push me into the moorings. Sorry but once is enough.

That's always a problem with small harbours with one or two visitors' berths, especially when it's several hours run to the next harbour if there's no room. I've had to push on to Fowey more times than I've made it into Mevagissey too.
 
They allow rafting but I would be a little reluctant to be in a raft of more than three boats. I suspect that the ferry boats and fishing boats may not be too happy either.

The biggest problem is how the different boats in a raft dry out. If they all had different keels it could be interesting as they each settle at different points of the departing tide. It would not be on to raft up without the agreement of the other boats.
 
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