‘I have the island to myself’: being a castaway on Looe Island

Just after dawn on Looe Island I watch two seals entwine on the beach, flippers wrapped around each other as cormorants look on. I had arrived the previous morning on the Night Riviera sleeper train, changed at Liskeard and crossed the waves in a small fishing boat.

The island is managed by the Cornwall Wildlife Trust and can be accessed only on organised visits; most people come for the day, but I’m staying three nights, carrying the food and bedding I will need and finding the weight of everyday life lifting as I watch the seals.

My base is Smuggler’s Cottage, a whitewashed house for two tucked into a garden of fruit trees and fading blooms. The cottage has a bedroom, tiny kitchen, bathroom and a cosy living room with a wood burner; it was once home to a pipe-smoking smuggler called Black Joan and her brother, Finn.

looe island, seals, cormorants, night riviera, liskeard, cornwall wildlife, smugglers cottage, black joan, sleeper train, fishing boat