This is very much a high tide swimming destination. Any other state of the tide and it’s simply too shallow. Great day out when you have a high tide afternoon and when the conditions are favourable ie. not blowing in from the south at any strength.
The beach is typically really quiet…so if you can get the conditions, you can have a section of beach all to yourself.
Typically any moderate wind direction, other than a fairly rare easterly works at Charlestown. Taking all necessary precautions, you can swim out of the harbour or opt for safer entry off the beach immediately next to the harbour…on either side. From there you have a number of options. *If you are swimming from the harbour check the tide. There isn’t a lot of water at low tide! A very short swim may include entry in the harbour and a swim around the corner to the beach. A longer swim may include a round-swim to Duporth Bay to the south (anywhere from 1-2km) or circular route from Charlestown to Porthpean Beach and back (approx 3km). Please be aware that some of the route is quite secluded and these swims would be best with a swim ‘buddy’ and possibly tow floats. If unsure, swim these routes on an incoming tide.
…and here’s additional footage of Porthpean. Porthpean has a small car park just above the beach. Charlestown has a larger car park and some free on-road parking.
At the start of 2022 there were loads of westerly winds. In an attempt to escape the dreaded ‘westerly’ we popped over to the Helford and the lesser well known Gillan Creek. Thank God for those westerlies! Ever since we’ve carried out quite a bit of activity in both areas. Both are absolutely stunning and both areas are fairly well protected from most wind directions. More importantly, both are really safe areas to swim (in the right conditions) and have very easy exit points.
For 2023 and the foreseeable future we have put together a series of wild swimming days out. These are very casual, walking - swimming days out. They’re designed specifically for people that simply want to turn up and swim at their own pace. No open water swimming experience is required and participants can swim whatever stroke they like, over very flexible distances. We typically take in 3-4 swims over an afternoon or morning.
Some aerial footage, shot in the winter over a number of the areas and beaches we’ll hopefully include on the 2023 day out.
We don’t do a great deal of swimming at Porthcothan, which is a shame as it’s a stunning part of Cornwall and not always that busy. It did feature on one of our charity swims and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Porthcothan is quite a narrow, fairly long beach, that starts to open up as the tide goes out. Due to the shape of the beach, we’d advise you to be very careful swimming there on an outgoing tide…particularly if there is some swell running. We’d also advise you not to be too adventurous with an outgoing tide and swim around either headland. There are a number of small islands and rock formations and you can get some strong currents and tidal movement.
Porthcothan is lifeguarded for a number of months over the summer, there is a beach cafe and reasonable parking.
I can’t believe that we’ve written dozens of safe(r) swimming guides over the last couple of years but never written one featuring Porthcurno Beach.
Well here it is. A guide to safer swimming at Porthcurno. There are also a couple of suggested swim routes, over to Logan Rock and around the corner to the Minack Theatre (for a very unique perspective).
Porthcurno to Minack and back - approx 500-600m
Porthcurno to Logan Rock and back - approx 2-2.5km…if you swim Porthcurno to Logan Rock on a fairly large spring tide, at low tide you could walk large parts of it. So if you weren’t up to a 2.5km swim to could do a swim-walk-swim. Just watch out for the nudists!
We swam two route here, as part of our 2020 Charity swim. If you get the conditions right and plan this swim it should be perfectly safe. Don’t turn up and simply try and swim it! At certain stages of the tide, particularly with a large outgoing tide you get a lot of water movement. If you are going to attempt it, follow the safety advice on the guide and be careful.
I’ll use the term cafe loosely. Some of these options aren’t strictly cafes. Eateries that serve food and/or snacks would be more on the money. Most are based in the areas that we operate in…before I get lots of useful suggestions from people. We’ve relied on first hand experiences at these establishments for this blog post.
In no particular order, here are our top 10 :
Roskilly’s Farm, Lizard Peninsula. As well as having dozens of delightful ice cream flavours and options, you also have a deli and shop, beautiful walks through the grounds, epic wood fired Pizzas and a great menu. Coffee there is fairly standard. Roskilly’s is also surrounded by world class swims. Highly recommend spending a day in the Lizard before a visit.
Gusto, Newquay. Great food, at reasonable prices. I haven’t actually visited here for about a year but I guarantee if I pop back in the food will be the same high standard. Really good meat and vege options.
Stones Bakery, Falmouth. If I’m in Falmouth I’ll always make the effort to pop in. Top quality baked goods, great cakes, good coffee and good food, including pizza. Fantastic little cafe too.
Be Kind Coffee Van, Hayle. You’ll find it at the back of the ASDA car park. It obviously doesn’t sound that glamorous but it’s easy and convenient parking, on the quay….so although you are essentially at the back of a car park, you have some nice views. The couple that run it are lovely and friendly, serves great coffee and some good snacks, including a great facon bagel.
Newlyn Art Gallery. Some (only a few!) good things did come out of the Covid lockdowns and pandemic. One of those things was the creation of Newlyn Art Galleries outdoor coffee shop. They’ve created an outdoor, enclosed and sheltered cafe area, which includes deckchairs on the adjacent lawn with sea views across Mount’s Bay. They have a selection of toasties and sell great coffee.
Ellie’s Soul Food Kitchen. Position just before the car park at Kynance, with parking! Really friendly staff and a beautiful outdoor area lie in wait. I also love the idea of a swim at Kynance followed by a coffee and snack. They do Saturday night street food…worth checking their Facebook page as this is seasonal.
Nauti But Ice, Porthleven. Small cafe in Porthleven, over looking the harbour. Great for storm watching in the summer and chilling out at the harbour in the summer. They offer a good standard of cake, good coffee and great ice cream. Porthleven is also a brilliant town to visit and offers great swimming, in the right conditions.
The Fat Apple, Porthallow, Lizard Peninsula. The service isn’t always that seamless but it still makes it into the top 10…which speaks volumes for the food. It’s reasonably priced food and they always go the extra mile. Cake is served with beautifully presented, chopped up fruit on top, big sandwiches with very tasty salads… Good stuff. They also have a number of canopies in the gardens, so you can sit comfortably outside in any conditions. Porthallow is usually very safe for swimming, in most conditions. Coffee is served in a cafeteria…so might not completely be your cup of tea if you’re into your coffee.
Uneeka, Truro. Not that often that we venture inland. When we do…Uneeka is usually on our radar. Lovely little cafe with good everything! Honourable mentions to 108 Coffee House and Pollen, both can be found on Kenwyn St, Truro.
Sun 10 Jul 2022 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
We’re a little shy on short, less serious wild swimming this year. So we created a epic event!
We're putting on 3 delightful wild swims, over the course of the day. You can walk at a leisurely pace but some of the path is slightly off road and uneven. If you're not good on your feet we'd advise you not to attend. You'll need some good walking shoes/boots. We'd recommend a tow float, purely as there are boats in the river (although they shouldn't be anywhere near us) but they are not a requirement.
Park up at the Bosveal Car Park (National Trust) TR11 5JR and then head down to Grebe Beach...basically walk to the far end of the car park and approx 150m through a small wooded area, you'll then join the road on a big bend to the right. Don't follow the bend and head off down a track to the left...which takes you to Grebe.
9am - swim off of Grebe Beach, around the corner towards Trebah Beach and back. A leisurely swim, past the stunning Durgan Village of approx 500 - 1500m (we'll split the water safety team if needed and offer 2 different distance routes).
10am - We'll supply cake, you bring a flask (we'd also suggest you bring a packed lunch, snacks and a drink).
10.30-11am - approx 1200m walk to the Helford Ferry, which we'll have pre-purchased. Ferry can take 12 people at a time.
11.15am-ish - walk across to Bosahan Cove, through a beautiful ancient woodland. We'll then swim a circular route, back towards the ferry and sailing club.
12.00pm - Again, approx 500-1500m at a leisurely pace.
13.00pm - walk across to Gillan Creek
14.15pm - circular swim at Gillan Creek, just before high tide (high tide being 14.57).
15.15pm(ish) - walk back to the ferry and cross
16.30pm(ish) - well offer a quick wild dip at Trebah Beach for any sweaty bodies.
...back to the cars....or pub.
A short swimming guide to swimming at Porthallow on the Lizard. This is a swim that offers safe swims in most conditions and it also offers a great day out. A popular spot with divers for it’s crystal clear water.
This event was a result of a late night brain storming session. Sea Swim Cornwall wanted to come up with a shorter, safer event specifically aimed at slower swimmers, swimming newbies, the head up breaststrokers, the less competitive swimmer, people that don’t like the mass starts and aren’t a fan of the more formal and competitive swimming events.
We set a rough geographical area for the swims and then wait until 2-3 days before the event day. We’ll then email the participants after looking at a short range, fairly accurate forecast of the conditions. This allows us to offer enjoyable swims, in the most favourable and safe conditions.
The Swimfari events typically consist of 3-5 swims over the course of the morning and afternoon. Each swim is approx 500 - 1200m in length. The exact distance is up to you, as is whether or not you take part in all of the swims. We have a number of water safety crew spread out across the swim length, so it’s very easy to turn back early if you’d like.
The St Mawes Swimfari this year was a real hit. We planned the whole event around having a spring high tide at the St Just-in-Roseland pool / harbour. A swim that never disappoints. You walk down through the subtropical Church garden to the banks of the harbour. From there you have a sheltered swim, in the shadow of the Church and gardens. Most swam out through the harbour and onto the river. This year we had a little morning mist, which made the swim a little more dramatic than usual but no less spectacular. From there we put on 3 magical swims, all based around St Mawes Castle and St Mawes itself. The feedback from the event has been great and we’ll look to plan a 10km swim around the same area in 2022 (broken into 2 x 5km swims).
We’re always on the lookout for new swims and re-visiting old swims to check out local parking, changes in cafe and shop use, exploring more of the local area…
This week we went to the Lizard Peninsula and went back to a few spots, checked out some new potential swims and just had a bit of a jolly!
This is Church Cove in the Lizard. It’s a stunner. Will make for an excellent addition to a long list of swims that we offer.
We trialled this at the end of last summer and it worked really well. This summer we’ll offer our standard 2-3 km short notice swims (short-notice as we check the conditions midweek and then pick the swim based on the forecasted conditions). We’ll also offer shorter distance swim double-ups…so we’ll swim around 1km at two different locations, that are fairly close to each other. These are more of an exploration and as they’re fairly laid back you get more of a chance to get a few coaching tips and ask questions.
Potential Doubles for this summer :
Porthcurno / Penberth or Nanjizal / Porthcurno : Porthcurno is easily one of our favourites and a stunning swimming location. The beauty of Porthcurno is that it also has some stunning swimming ‘neighbours’.
Kynance / Cadgwith : Kynance is Cornish Top 3 swims material. Cadgwith offers the breathtaking ‘Devil’s Frying Pan’ swim, as well as some very cool nearby caves to explore.
Mousehole / Mount : swimming over to St Clement’s Isle (Mousehole Island) and back. Then swimming off the beach at Marazion.
Porthleven Harbour / Rinsey or Prussia Cove : swimming out of the iconic Porthleven Harbour and back in. Rinsey or Prussia also offer fabulous, peaceful swims.
The Gannel / Polly Joke : Crystal clear water, meets a little Cornish gem.
This summer we’re offering memberships for return/frequent ‘short-notice swimmers’. The membership offers around 1/3 discount – and is only £15! CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
I still haven’t done this swim! I’m going to tick this off my swim list this summer! Stunning dipping opportunity here, well worth the drive. Beware that this isn’t a very safe spot to swim. This area is very exposed to the elements and you can get a lot of water movement, in most tidal states.
If you visit the Penzance area and have your swimming stuff there’s no excuse for not visiting Mousehole! Whether your looking to pop in for a quick dip or fancy a more serious swim you can’t go wrong.
This is me swimming out through the harbour - shooting a promo video with a good friend of mine and owner of Ulu Dry Bags - Ben.
At high tide you can venture round the harbour. There is generally very little boat traffic to be cautious of...but still obviously be cautious! At low tide there’s absolutely no chance of doing any swimming in the harbour at all.
For the more adventurous swimmers out there you can venture out of the harbour mouth (being very cautious of any boat traffic) and swim over to the island. We’d advise that you wear a tow float for this swim. You can do this swim at low tide but will have to walk through some mud to start the swim. The island is home to a colony of Seals. Please don’t get too close to the island. At a distance of around 20m the Seals may be a little curious but will leave you alone. Any closer and they can get a little feisty.
If you fancy a longer swim but don’t fancy the island, then you can swim east (left as you look out to sea). Follow the coastline, around the corner and visit the Penlee Lifeboat Station.
Mousehole itself has a number of fantastic cafes and delis and is well worth an afternoon out.
There’s no disputing that Kynance is a world class swimming location. The walk down to the beach alone is worth the visit! The only issue with Kynance Cove is the fact that it’s not a very well kept secret…and is usually quite busy. I’ve visited the beach before at 7am and there were a couple of kids on holiday body boarding! Get there early to ensure that you can park.
If you want a magical swim at Kynance Cove get there early. To be honest, once you start swimming you get away from the crowds anyway…but if you want a nice peaceful experience get there before the crowds. If you get there before the crowds be sensible! It is a remote beach, with very limited phone reception. So take precautions, take a friend, check the conditions….be SENSIBLE! At the time of writing lifeguards aren’t present at Kynance during any of the summer. Avoid obviously unfavourable conditions and big tide, particularly when the tide is going out.
Once at Kynance be careful getting down to the beach…it can be slippery and there is often loose gravel and stones under foot. There are 2 ways down, one an access road used for supplies (although the public can’t drive down it) and the second is the public footpath, at the back of the car park. This is steep in places and appropriate footwear is advisable.
Once on the beach there are lots of small stones and boulders to clamber over. I prefer swimming at Kynance at low tide, there’s more sand, better underwater views, easy access to the sandy beach side (far side of the beach) and more room in general.
Once in the water, there are a number of different swim routes. For the less adventurous swimmers I’d advise staying out the front, close to shore or popping through the gap at the far end of the beach (more picturesque on this side) and lots of rock features to swim around and explore. For the more adventurous you can swim around Asparagus Island. It’s around 2km in length. Be aware that you will be out of sight for some time on the swim. Stunning swim though and this swim should be on your bucket list!
If you are feeling adventurous and want to be safe get hold of a local guide.
Newquay is obviously far better known for it’s surfing but she does offer some fantastic swims as well. The issue with swimming in Newquay is quite simple. Most of the coast faces west / north west…meaning that if the wind is blowing in from that direction with any force you’ll be a little stuck for a flat and sheltered swim.
The summer season often offers high pressures and small swell. So, if you’re planning some swims in Newquay the peak summer seasons might be the time. Even in the peak months if you swim at around 8-9.30am it’ll be nice and quiet. To list but a few (we’ll try) check out :
Crantock Beach and the Gannel Estuary (we have a safe swimming guide on swimming the Gannel)
Polly Joke for a mid-high tide wild dip
Porth Beach at mid-high tide
Try body surfing! Great fun
There are also short drives up & down to areas like Mother Ivey’s Bay, St Agnes, Porthcothan…. A strong westerly wind may rule out swims in Newquay but St Austell and Charlestown are only a short drive away and generally offer safe swimming conditions. If conditions are horrendous Newquay Harbour and the Gannel may still offer a quick dip option.
This year we’re putting on a series of last minute swims. We’ll access the week’s weather forecast and by Tuesday / Wednesday we’ll publish where we’re putting on swims for that weekend. We’ll try and include bucket list worthy locations like Porthcurno, St Michael’s Mount, Kynance Cove, the Island in St Ives…
You can book once we’ve published the swims or pre-book a group or individual swim and we’ll match up the conditions with an appropriate swim. This way you get the most enjoyment out of your swim possible, in the safest conditions possible.
£30 per head.
Welcome to Porthminster Beach, St Ives, Cornwall. Good all-rounder. Just be aware that parking can be a problem in the main season…even if you get there early! Could be worth parking up at St Erth train station and getting the train in. Great train ride too.
If you enjoy a quiet beach, a little out of the way…and you don’t have young kids this may well be for you.
I lifeguarded here for a summer and love this beach. A bit of an effort to get to but well worth that effort.
You have it all…surf, sand, sand dunes, walks, great local village. Great all round day out.
