Sketching in Polruan

A little while back we were on holiday and travelling some of the various tiny roads of Cornwall between Looe and Polruan.

Of course we took another trip to Polperro, a tourist hot-spot and one of our favourite Cornish fishing villages. This also meant a visit to the village car park and 20th-century coin payment machine. Expecting hundreds or thousands of visitors to have the ready change to pay the regular £7 or £12 fee does not make sense. Anyway, there is supposed to be a privately run Tuc-tuk service but on the occasion of our visit this was absent. So it was the usual hobble down the valley to take a walk around the harbour and to stop in at the teashop for some tea and a scone. Personally, I’ve taken to jam before cream but that is just a personal preference. It was a lovely day and nice also to walk around the village again. Although I took a few photos, I didn’t do any sketching. That is largely the way it goes these days.

For me you have got to feel like sketching. Sometimes it is too conspicuous, sometimes perhaps a little too ‘corny’ (even in Cornwall) ? Again – that’s also a personal preference. Sometimes it is just nice to go for a walk. Anyway I knew that we’d also be driving those narrow twisty Cornish roads to nearby Polruan and was hoping to get the opportunity to do some sketching at the boatyard there.

Apparently Polruan is busy enough in the main tourist season but (from hearsay) it is largely a second homes or holiday let town now. Maybe there are some locals straggling around the outskirts or possibly working in the local shipyard – but it is supposed to be very quiet in the winter. Personally I don’t know how the locals do it – dicing with the local roads or coping with the steep and narrow main road in and out of the village. That is a challenge. I suppose if there are fewer people in the winter then you are less likely to meet other traffic on the lanes but then probably most of the pubs and services largely close down. If you drive then the choice seems to be to drive a big truck, a small beat-up car that might not notice a few more scratches here and there or perhaps let the local bus service take the strain – if you don’t mind waiting a while.

So although Polruan was challenging it was also rewarding. There are a couple of local pubs, the views are good and the boatyard seems to be busy again. I didn’t have the time to sketch but managed to take a wander and also took some good photos, which I used later to sketch from.

Here are some views from Looe to Polruan and the progress of my sketch to watercolour. I also leave some links to previous posts about some of my sketching and paintings from the area.