Hayle

Today is extremely windy again, with occasional heavy downpours. I get soaked long before arriving at the seafront proper, having walked along the Hayle River. Here is where the Hayle finally joins the sea, but the miles of golden sand stretch quite a way back along the tidal river front before the coast opens out. In the distance you look west towards St Ives, Cornwall's art colony by the sea, while to the right (but out of the picture) Godrevy lighthouse stands proud off the coast. This beach is an unexpected pleasure, found only after an unpromising approach past derelict-looking industrial bits - then old wooden shacks that sit a little way back among the sand dunes, and finally the deserted sands that just keep inviting you to go on...

Lusty Glaze

Today has been windy all day; fortunately Lusty Glaze is somewhat sheltered from the southwesterlies, being one of the newquay beaches on the south coast. it sits in a small cove, surrounded by steep cliffs and reached by a long flight of steps. You can see Newquay's headland there in the distance, with its imposing Hotel on the skyline. Once you get to the bottom of the steps and past the wooden cafe, it feels like a nice beach, with even a neat row of beach huts at the back. When the tide is right out the beach opens up on the left past the edge of the cliffs, but this late afternoon the waves stop you short of the cliff line... the setting sun dodges in and out of the clouds, creating an endlessly changing series of beautiful and dramatic seascapes that you really just have to be there for.

Castle Beach

Today is like a warm spring day, even though the rain clouds fly quickly overhead and are never very far away. Castle Beach sits west of and just below Pendennis Castle in Falmouth, hence its name. It is not an attractive beach, just a bit of shingle and lots of granite outcrops at low water. At high tide there is no beach at all, just the high sea-wall, road and lots of small hotels overlooking Falmouth Bay. But when the tide is out, what a lovely stretch of rock-pools to explore! and If you want a more sandy beach to walk on, then Gyllyngvase beach is just a minute's stroll away.

Carne

Today there are gale force winds coming in off the north coast, and the rain clouds come and go in a hurry. One minute the sky is black and aqually; ten minutes later we have blue skies and bright sunshine.Carne is in the Roseland peninsula on the south coast, right next to Pendower. When the tide is out they are really just one long beach, but the roads to either one seems to go a completely different way through the Roseland... Anyway, these two beaches are really lovely - they feel secluded, private without being claustrophobic. there are just a few houses clustered nearby, with a hotel discreetly above each beach. Locals come and launch all sorts of small craft off the beach here at Carne - canoes today. On a cold clear Christmas, you might see family barbecues and people riding horses through the surf.

Charlestown (West)

Charlestown on the south coast has an inner harbour that is home to some old wooden tall ships, and an outer one that dries out completely. To its right, the West beach is small, with lovely shingle and rock. You have to clamber over the rocks to get to another very small piece of shingle on the western side, from where you can see Duporth Beach in the distance. When the tide is right out, you can also walk into the harbour on the east from the seaward end, or right across to the larger beach on the other side of the harbour. Today, the light makes everything seem a dirty grey, that does not let up until dark.

Gyllyngvase Beach

Falmouth’s town beach is lined with genteel hotels along the coast road, and there is a municipal feel about the place. There is even a small park here - a very traditional British seaside town feature? But it is a pleasant, open beach to be on with good rocky tide pools on both sides and lovely views of Falmouth Bay. Off to the left (outside the photo) Pendennis Point and St. Anthony’s lighthouse are very picturesque, while to the right (centre of photo) you look towards the mouth of Helford river and then further out to sea the Manacles, a group of rocks sits off-shore . And in summer the sailing boats dotted about the bay add the finishing touch...

Chapel Porth

Chapel Porth is a little beach on the north coast snuggled between Trevaunance Cove and Perranporth. The approach is for the most part strewn with rocks and large boulders, and the beach feels hemmed in by dark, rocky cliffs on both sides, but at low water it opens out onto fine sand. I even suspect, though I don't know for sure, that you can walk round the headland onto Perranporth beach when the tide is low enough. Today though, the cove feels small, it just pours and pours with rain, and everything is soggy...

Perranporth

Perranporth is on the north coast; it’s the next major beach east of St. Agnes. Looking eastwards, you can see that the coastline begins to be gentler, hinting that further along the hard, rocky cliffs will give way for a while to the sand dunes of Holywell and Crantock. There are sand dunes here as well, and a wooden cafe / pub perched in amongst the dune grass. Perranporth is both wide and deep, ideal for all sorts of beach and water sports, or just being able to walk for ages along the waterline. This morning, a cold, strng and constant wind still makes it difficult to keep your footing on rocky outcrops, but then these are restricted to one granite stack on towards the left anyway...

Porthpean

Porthpean is one of the St. Austell beaches on the south coast. Porthpean feels like a municipal beach when you approach it - the concrete walls, walkway and access ramp that shore up the cliffs to the rear are useful for the dinghies and holidaymakers, but feel a little intrusive; but the view of the beach from above, and the walk along the beach itself, make up for this. Today, the winds and rain have died away, and the sea is calm again - as the sun sets everything is still, only the gentle sound of water finally touching the shoreline, like a rustling of leaves.

Trevaunance

Trevaunance at St. Agnes on the north coast is a smallish, and for the most part sandy beach, flanked on three sides by steep rocky cliffs. The best views of it are from the coastal path heading west towards Chapel Porth, from where you get a sense of the ruggedness of this coastline. Today the storms at sea have abated somewhat, the surf has calmed to more normal big waves, and the surfers are out in force here at St. Agnes. Unfortunately, it has also rained incessantly all day. Most of my photos are taken through a rain-splattered lens, despite my frequent but futile efforts with a lens cloth. The little light disappears from the rainy skies quite suddenly around 5:30 p.m.

Crantock Beach

Crantock is on the North coast, just west of Pentire Point outside Newquay. There is a small river that disappears into the sea here, on the right of the picture. Crantock is deep and quite long, one of the prettier beaches on this stretch of coastline. When the weather is fine, there is the large mass of dunes to explore as well as the beach itself, and there are a few tidal pools at the far end. The photo is actually deceptive, because today gale force winds blew relentlessly in off the sea, creating gossamer sheets of fine sand flying a foot above the ground. Nearer the water’s edge, this became a fine curtain of spray, and the surf further out was heavy and messy, a constant roar... A bracing rather than contemplative walk that puts you in touch with the elements.

Fistral Beach

In the past ten years, i have taken to avoiding Newquay like the plague, which is a shame because I have missed out on some of the beaches which have made Newquay such a popular holiday destination. In winter especially, Newquay’s beaches become such different places. Today Fistral Beach was cold, wet and windy, and it soon became impossible to keep my camera lens dry. the sandy beach ends in a low ridge of dunes, like the sand has been dumped in a long heap by the sea. The headland, with its Headland Hotel, dominates Fistral over on its right side. The Hotel itself is a large Victorian gothic monstrosity, endearingly ugly. When the weather turns nasty it does tempt you with afternoon tea in cosy drawing rooms overlooking the sea.

Duporth

Saturday
Duporth is a secluded beach, with high cliffs on all three sides. You reach it by going off the coastal path from Charlestown or Porthpean and then down a set of steep steps. There is no other public access, since the only other way is through a private road. The locals here have somehow managed to keep this little gem a close secret. When you begin to explore the beach, you can see that it seems to have almost everything - sand and shingle beach with views out to the open sea as well as along the coast; rock pools (though not many) and even a couple of waterfalls. Lovely beach just to be there, even when the weather is dull...

Porthtowan

Thursday
Porthtowan is on the north coast, near Redruth. It looks fairly unkempt as you approach it through scrubby dunes, but as you approach the water at around low tide, it opens out to both sides with fabulous tidal pools and rocks to scramble over or just to sit and sunbathe on. Today however, the wind and surf were relentless, and no surfers were out. The surf looked truly high and menacing; when you look at the churning white, it’s like catching just a glimpse of suppresed but awesome violence - just enough so you know it’s there...

Polkerris

Wednesday
Late afternoon, cold. It has been a clear day. Goran is on the south coast near the fishing port of Mevagissey. A small village has grown on the edge of this little beach. There is a harbour wall of sorts on the right that gives local small boat moorings some protection from the weather in summer months but it is empty now. The tide is in and rising further, but at low water the harbour pretty well dries out

Carlyon bay

Tuesday
Most of us live so protected from the elements that you forget how the stinging cold wind can burn and numb your fingers at the same time. Today I remembered, as I slithered on wet rocks in the icy rain. Carlyon beach has always felt a bit odd to me, in a way I can’t explain. It can take you to a strange world, like when I walked here alone once in a soft glowing seamist. You couldn’t see, but felt that the beach would just go on and on forever... That’s not going to happen, now. If you look closely on the left, you might see a new sea wall being constructed, that marks the boundary of a giant new development - the largest complex of houses, flats and leisure facilities that Cornwall has ever seen. At high water, there will often be little or no beach left in this photo. Because of the new sea-wall, you can now only get down to the beach in one place; the beach narrowed to less than 10 metres only partway along, so I had to turn back to avoid being cut off by the tide. A melancholy walk today, then, despite the elements.

Goran Haven

Monday
Late afternoon, cold. It has been a clear day. Goran is on the south coast near the fishing port of Mevagissey. A small village has grown on the edge of this little beach. There is a harbour wall of sorts on the right that gives local small boat moorings some protection from the weather in summer months but it is empty now. The tide is in and rising further, but at low water the harbour pretty well dries out

Porth

Sunday
Porth is on the north coast, and is one of the “Nine Newquay beaches” for reasons I don’t quite understand. It is easy to miss on the road from Newquay - you’ve gone past it before you realise there is even a beach. It is narrow, but stretches out more than half a mile to the water at low water. The nice thing then is all the rocks and tidal pools, especially on the right side. Looking out to sea, your main view is of the Newquay headland, until you reach almost to the water’s edge when the view opens out. Surfers use this beach, but on a sunday afternoon dozens of families are out with their kids and dogs. A good beach for a welly walk in winter, because of the shallow stream on the right as well as the slippery tidal rock pools. Porth Island, a large grass-covered rock which flanks it just past the stream, is cut off from the mainland at high water except for a wooden bridge; it too is a lovely walk too - guaranteed to clear your head when the off-shore wind is brisk.
(I took my photos with a phone camera in landscape format, but somehow some of the info seems to have got "lost", I'm not sure how. Only one application i know has actually managed to retrieve the missing info.)

Par

The tide was out, leaving a large, wet expanse of sand rather like mud flats. This is not a very pretty beach; Par is a port for the china clay industry, and the dominating, smoking industrial buildings look strange all along the right ride of the beach. Above the high water line is fringed by low sand dunes, and then a crowded caravan park.
Still, it manages to cling onto its identity as a “beach” - many locals use this to stroll to the water’s edge, and there are a couple of beach huts in good order remaining, perched on the dunes. And there is always something uplifting about seeing horses riding through the surf...

Pendower

Pendower beach, in the Roseland on the south coast. Just before dusk. Today was such a contrast to yesterday’s stolen moments in the drizzle. Today was calm - the still that you seem to get along this stretch of coast as the sun goes down; you can just sit on a rock for ages, empty yourself of thought, and feel the gentle sighing of the surf when it can reach no further and is pulled back into the sea.
(This entry has been transferred from a previous site)

Portreath

A north coast beach, bounded by high cliffs on both sides. Wonderfully peaceful in winter even when the surfers are out. This was taken during a snatched lunch hour, munching a cornish pasty in the grey drizzly rain.