Musings from Higher Downgate and Elsewhere: January at Poldhu Cove: Part 2

Saturday 3 January 2015

January at Poldhu Cove: Part 2

After a wild and woolly night, followed by early morning rain, we decided that it would be prudent not the walk the cliffs today. The alternative was the more sheltered walk around Loe Pool, the largest stretch of fresh water in Cornwall. It's not somewhere we'd been before and it was a very pleasant surprise, reminding us of Bosherton Ponds near Tenby in Pembrokeshire. At just over 7 miles, it was a good stretch of the legs. The Loe is separated from the sea by a shingle beach some 200 yards wide and is reknowned for the many over-wintering water fowl to be seen. We were out of luck and the ducks we did see were in a park on the outskirts of Helston.

The Loe with the sea to the right and the Pool to the left. In the mid distance you may be able to make out the white cross memorial to the 100 sailors lost when HMS Anson run aground in 1810. Lots of legends associated wit h how the Loe was formed, the most popular of which is that it was formed by a giant storm in the 1300s, forming a barrier and cutting off Helston up-stream. Unfortunately for this story, there really isn't any good documentary evidence for Helston ever being a port. Shame really, as the prosaic view of the geomorphologists is much less romantic. They say that the Loe was formed by rising sea levels during the last Ice Age - boring, boring, boring.

Taken on the Loe, looking back into the Pool. And here's another legend for you: Loe Pool was the place where Sir Bedivere threw the sword Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake. Not true, of course, as it springs from the pen of Tennyson in one of his epic poems.

Apart from all this, enjoy!

Although the size and ferocity of the waves shows the sense of the warning signs. This is not a beach for watersports. We reckon the waves had more power than ones we'd seen in Hawaii.