England Through My Eyes #7

August 28, 1999

Polperro is a small, quaint, fishing village in Cornwall. A perfect weekend getaway and one of my favourite places during this trip. It was a long weekend in UK (Summer Bank Holiday). We (Val, Laurent and his French friend, Marc, plus me) drove for 4 hours from Bracknell to Polperro. It was low tide when we arrived, thus a strong fishy smell, but coupled with the scent of the sea, it’s a heavenly fragrance! I may sound a little crazy but

we were in great holiday mood! How not to when it was a beautiful day: blue sea, blue sky, very sunny but not too hot with the cool sea breeze, laughter of the seagulls (I always think that the cry of the seagulls sounds like

laughter), it was very picturesque and our spirits soared.

We had a nice picnic at Polperro’s tiny harbour, just enjoying the view and relaxing. Val and I supplemented the lunch with the famous Cornish pasty (not that there wasn’t enough to eat but we were just greedy). It was shaped like our local curry puff and very yummy, and filling too. We walked up the cliffs and were rewarded with greater views. Later, we ventured out of Polperro and went to Looe (partly to buy ingredients for tonight’s dinner as Polperro is so small that there isn’t a proper grocery store), a much bigger fishing village about 15-min drive away.

Looe was more crowded and had this summer party atmosphere. It was fun as a day trip but I preferred to overnight at the charming little Polperro. Looe has a nice beach, like all beaches in such fine weather, it was quite crowded. We tried the Cornish Cream Tea, it was delicious! The secret is in the thick Cornish clotted cream, rich, creamy and sinfully fattening, but who cares!

We decided to go mackerel fishing the next day and went ’shopping’ at the harbour. There are many advert-boards about the activities available along the harbour, so once you find something that agrees with you, just jot down your name on the attached notebook and be back on time the next day. There were many kids catching tiny crabs along the harbour. Seems easy, just drop the line with bit of mackerel as bait into the water and draw it up slowly. Wondered how they eat it, some said alive, but still, had problem imagining it.

We went back to Polperro’s harbour at sunset, a fishing boat returned and we watched them unloading the harvest. The catch was already sorted in size and variety, there were 14 tubs altogether. An old couple actually bought a few fish from them.

Woke up the next day at 7am and took a walk into the village of Polperro and explored the winding paths. Hardly a soul so early in the morning and it was a pleasant gesture to greet every passerby. A stream runs parallel to the main street (actually, street is an exaggerated expression of this narrow road) of Polperro, it was a nice walk listening to the running water.

I thought morning is the busiest time in any fishing village, apparently I was wrong, it was quiet except for the seagulls. Took a path heading up the hill, it was mainly residential with the exception of a couple B&Bs. It should have a great view of the sea, cliffs and harbour but the houses blocked it. Anyway, came across a B&B’s garden, which looked so inviting with the great view, and I sneaked in. It was a breathtaking sight to behold.

When we arrived at Looe for our fishing trip, a fisherman told us that the guy whom we booked the trip with was sick. As they usually work as partners, he could take us out but his session in the morning was full. Too bad, we had to take the 1pm session then. We lazed around at the beach, wrote some postcards, built an ugly castle (not that we were lousy but there was no proper tool). It was such a beautiful day yesterday but it was cloudy and a little misty today.

Finally, we were at sea fishing. I never fished before, not only because of the lack of patience, but I simply cannot imagine what fun there is to wait passively for a fish stupid enough to take your bait. As it turned out, mackerel fishing was fun! You know why? When you’re real lucky, it can be almost one after another, once I even had 3 mackerels on one line and that was heavy!

The boat has a sonar to detect if there is ‘activity’ underneath. The mackerels swim about 5m or so deep, so you just drop the weighted line, count to 6, lock it, pull up and down and feel for the tug. It was thrilling to catch and grab my first mackerel. With a little embarrassment, I still couldn’t unhook the fish myself. I tried but it was difficult with the fish struggling; it was like tearing its mouth and a bloody affair, one got away (with torn mouth) and I wonder its fate. Well, I caught about 12 mackerels, not bad.

Laurent selected 8 bigger ones for our dinner. He washed and cooked them too, as he is the only one who knows how, shame on these 2 ladies Actually, he cooked the pasta last night too.

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