Separating the twin towns of Looe - 'The River Looe'
nearly at it's end
is spanned by a small grade II
listed bridge
built replacing an ancient 15th century structure.
Once both angry and fast
tributaries,
the two main rivers
with identical names to the two towns - are joined as one
in a confluence north of the towns
they become a calm
tidal harbour
where for many centuries
shipwrights made the ships which set sail
to fish
and to sell
exporting all that Cornwall could produce.
Nowadays it's quays produce
beds for the night
and lunches
coffees and teas for tourists
who
in the summer months
flood in; in their thousands
by train
by boat
or by car
down the narrow winding lanes that feed the two towns.
The single river having become a slow
calm
harbour
provdes shelter for a small fishing fleet
a mere fraction of what it was -
the pleasure crafts and weekend sailors making up the numbers
then
finally
the river becomes an estuary
and passes 'Banjo Pier'
when this former gateway to a wider
waiting world
...becomes the sea.
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