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.
I had an email about accessible swimming today and thought I’d write a blog post about it and highlight some of the more accessible swims near us. Please bear in mind however, that with granite cliffs, sand, country roads…there aren’t a huge amount of truly accessible swims.
In and around Penzance :
Penzance Harbour - swim at the back of the harbour, off Abbey Slip. Best avoid the main section of the harbour. Limited parking at Abbey Slip . There is a small section of road for blue badge holders…as well as the main council car park on the harbour. Slip drops into the harbour at mid-to-high tide.
Battery Rocks and the slipway to the west of the Jubilee Pool - Battery Rocks has a paved path running down to the entry point, entry via steps with hand rails. A good 300m walk, if you can park in close proximity. Blue Badge holders can park right next to the slipway and you can access the water within 2 hours of a high tide. Avoid moderate to strong southerly wind.
Jubilee Pool - not quite the sea but it’s salt water. Have hoists and accessible aquatic wheelchair. Car park is about 50m away from the lido but is small.
Around Penzance area :
Mousehole Harbour : can swim in the harbour at high tide. Make sure you check the SAS sewage alerts in the winter. You can park nice and close but either have to negotiate steps or a slipway on the steeper side. You can park nice and close to the south beach but I wouldn’t advise drive through the village! You could drive around the back of the village and approach from the rear side and park next to the south beach.
Lamorna - slightly further out of the way but you can park next to the beach…although avoid peak parking times in the summer! At mid-to-high tide, 40m walk into the water, via a rundown slipway and small section of sand.
Sennen Cove - you can park right next to the harbour. Again, near high tide, in calm conditions.
Long Rock - avoid low tide, as it’s a very flat beach and long walk. At high tide you can use the very reasonably priced car park and potentially walk 10-20m into the sea at high tide. You access the beach through a gently sloping slipway. Avoid moderate to strong southerly wind.
Marazion - if you park in either main car park across from the Mount, there are 2 slipways onto the beach and a short walk across the sand. Particularly true of the smaller short stay car park.
Praa Sands - best in calm conditions. Park in Maggie’s Patch car park. Short walk along an accessible road and then a short walk across the beach, at high tide. Longer at mid or low tide.
St Ives area swims :
Carbis Bay - you can park on the beach but the car park is likely to cost you £10-20 and you still have to walk across the sandy beach.
Porthgwidden Beach - if you can park in the ‘Island’ car park, you have a 50-100m walk to the beach and then a walk across a small beach.
The Lizard Peninsula :
Kennack Sands - Car park right on the beach. At high tide there’s a short walk across the beach. Lifeguarded during the summer.
Porthallow - park on the beach itself and a short 20m walk to the sea. The only issue being that it’s a pebble beach. So not an entirely straight forward walk.
Gillan Creek - park at the car park in St Anthony-in-Meneage. There is then a short 30m walk to the water, at high tide. If you swim at mid-to-low tide, you’ll have to negotiate a rocky beach.
Trevassack Lake - I’m cheating a little. Fully accessible site. Has all the equipment you could ask for. Limited opening hours, so do your research.
Falmouth area :
Maenporth Beach - parking on the back of the dunes. Walk across the beach. Be careful, although calm and shletered, you can get strong currents…particularly on spring tides. Avoid a moderate to strong easterly.
Swanpool - similar to Maenporth…just a slightly longer walk. Avoid a moderate to strong easterly.
Gyllyngvase Beach - can never get the spelling of this one right! Quite a flat beach but parking can be an issue. Road access right up to the back of the beach. Avoid a moderate to strong easterly.
Roseland Pen :
Porthcurnick Beach - If you avoid the car park and get there at a reasonable hour…there’s a road right down to the beach. You can turn around at the bottom of the road and get dropped off. Again, plan to swim at high tide. Avoid a moderate to strong easterly.
In & around north Cornwall :
Porthreath - you can park right on the beach but you’ll have to negotiate the sand. Lifeguarded beach in the summer months.
Newquay Harbour - if you can park in the very small car park, there an easy and short walk into the harbour around high tide.
Porth Beach - it’s unclear whether you can still park on the beach but if you drive down to the sea front, past Gwenna Tea Rooms you can park on double yellows during the winter months / blub badge holders. On a spring high tide there’s a short walk across the beach and into the sea.
We’re running a number of ‘Wild Swimming Days Out’ in 2023 and annually. These are swimming days that are designed for all-comers. We have swimmers that turn up and do head up breaststroke, all the way through to swimmers that’ll cover 3-4km. The day is designed to take in 3-4 swims, with minimal travel between swims. Our West Cornwall day out in 2023 saw us park up and manage 4 swims without moving vehicles. We typically set a rough area and then get in touch 2-3 days before the event, once we’ve seen an accurate forecast and announce the exact swim locations. This ensures that you swim in flat and enjoyable conditions.
Our west Cornwall Wild Swimming Days Out saw us swim from 2 secluded beaches to the west of Perranuthnoe, one beach swim from Perranuthnoe and another glorious swim towards Cuddon Point.
We attract swimmers from far and wide. We’ve had clients from Scotland (taking advantage of Cornwall Airport, Newquay), Manchester, swimmers from Holland, a lady from south Australia…all over the place. As well as accommodating people from various areas of the country and the world, we also accommodate swimmers of varying abilities, experience and speeds. This is also where one of our major hurdles lies.
On a fairly frequent basis we receive emails and phone calls from clients that have booked and are looking to book, regarding the anxiety they are experiencing over swimming in the sea and their suitability to the activity they have booked. This year we have introduced a ‘slow swimming’ holiday and it’s booked up 2-3 times faster than our standard holidays…and I’ll be shocked if half the people that attend the ‘slow swimming’ holiday aren’t perfectly suited to the ‘standard’ version of our swimming holidays.
So…firstly, we’re not really concerned about the pace that people swim. What we are interested in is whether or not you can swim the distances set out in the holiday/event description. What we’ll also point out is that there is no requirement to complete all of the swims over the course of the holiday/event day. Provided you let us know prior to swim starting, there’s obviously no problem with you sitting a swim out. What we’re are also happy to do is put on a shorter distance swim immediately after the scheduled swim finishes. We adopt a very flexible approach.
Secondly, we base all of our swims on the days conditions. So we never approach a swim day (unless it’s a one-off private booking), with a set swim location or series of swim locations. That way, you swim in the safest conditions possible…for both your own safety and enjoyment and there’s no pressure on us to hold a swim in questionable conditions!
Third and final point, as I’ve already mentioned, we approach all of our activities in a flexible manner. If for example, we had a couple of slower swimmers in the group, we simply split up our water safety team and one of the team would hang back.
If you have any questions regarding swim holidays or swimming events feel free to get in touch.
We’re fairly certain this cave doesn’t have an official name, so we’ve named it the ‘Devil’s Chimney’. There’s a small, dark opening that could easily be missed and has been at least once by us! From the outside it looks very unimpressive, simply a small dark opening under a large rock. When you swim into the cave it’s quite narrow, it’s dull and not particularly impressive. Once you get into the cave, that’s where the magic. There’s what we like to describe as a chimney that allows light to flood in and suddenly this dark cave is transformed into this bright, rather spectacular space. The light seems to bounce off the seabed and illuminate the whole cave. One swimmer on the last swim we did here summed it up perfectly. We arrived at the cave and she said “is this it!?”. Once she’d gone the whole way through her entire facial expression had changed and she said “…can we do it again!?”.
Before I’m inundated with exact location requests I’ll point out that to get to the cave you need the right conditions and tides. If you don’t do your research you could get in trouble. I won’t be handing out location info in a hurry.
Here at Sea Swim Cornwall we love a tweak! Each year we’ll offer one holiday that’s a little bit different from our standard format holidays. Mainly just to see if it works, has a good up-take, see if we’ve previously ‘missed a trick’… and also so our clients have a variety of options. This year we used a campsite in the Lizard as a base. Somewhere for everyone to stay, in a central location, that offered good value for money and has a bar! Get the social side of things working…as it had slacked off somewhat (Covid!). We upped the participant numbers and actually reduced the price for this holiday and we’ve never sold a holiday faster!
Now, we’ve looked around for a similar ‘base’ campsite in the Penzance area and found a great site. Very affordable (£5 per adult, per night at the time of writing), flat ground, right in the middle of west Cornwall…5 minute drive to places like St Ives, Hayle, Penzance, Marazion… We were originally looking to promote this holiday for 2023 but we liked the campsite and set up so much we’re going to run it this year - Sept 9-11, 2022. We’re putting on 5 swims : 1 x swim Friday evening, 2 x swims on Saturday, 2 x swims on Sunday. You can book as many or as few swims as you’d like. £30 per swim (members receive a discounted entry). If this holiday proves popular we’ll add additional swims. You don’t have to stay at the campsite, locals don’t have to camp at all…
You initially book a date and time slot. A few days prior to the swim we’ll look at a reliable, short range forecast and pick the swim that best suits the days conditions - both for your enjoyment and safety. You could also book the entire week and contact us about booking some private swims, swim coaching etc prior to the weekend.
If you’re looking for swim-spiration for the 2022 summer here it is! I’ve selected a few safe swimming guides.
…is a question that we get all the time and something that I think puts a lot of people off booking swimming holidays. In this article I’ll address this question.
Now obviously I sell and manage swimming holidays, so you may be thinking this will be a bit of a biased article but…you also have to remember that safety for us and our reputation is paramount! Most of the i following info I’ll relate to our holidays but will probably apply to any swimming holiday provider.
SPEED : first up is pace. The majority of people you’ll find on our holidays, you’ll also find in the middle lane(s) of a public swimming session. You’re probably looking at an average 100m speed (over a swim of around 2km) 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Some will go quicker, some slower. This is no issue whatsoever. Quite often, the faster swimmers simply double back and get in some more distance. In general terms, the quicker swimmers are either younger or possibly a little fitter, so a sneaky double back and a bit of extra distance actually works out perfectly for them. SLOW & STEADY SWIMMERS are not generally a problem. It’s not so much about the pace, more about covering the distances. Although, we tow blow up SUPs with us on our swims. If anyone wasn’t confident covering the distances, gets tired, wants a break…we simply get them to climb onto a SUP and we’ll tow them around part of the swim. We also now offer a SLOW SWIMMING HOLIDAY where you can swim entirely at your own pace and we offer a number of different distances on each swim.
DISTANCE : this really depends on the booking. On our standard holidays we cover around 1500m - 3km per swim. We also tailor the swims to the individuals on those holidays. So, we may shorten the distances on all of the swims and then offer additional distance to part of the group at the end of any given swim. Bespoke / private group bookings are entirely tailored to the group, both in terms of the swim distances and the quantity of the swims. I’ll also point out that none of the swims are compulsory and with a little prior warning we can stay in the water at the end of any of the swims and allow clients a shorter swim option… More recently we’ve introduced our ‘slow swimming holiday’ offering flexible distances.
CONDITIONS : all of our swims are dictated by the days conditions, for both your safety and enjoyment. Individual / one-off swims are a little different but we won’t ever guarantee any specific swims or locations until we’ve seen the short term forecast (2-3 days prior to the swim day). The state of the tide may also play a factor. With the bulk of our activity in west Cornwall and the Lizard (which are both basically peninsulas), you’re almost always guaranteed a safe and flat swim. The way we plan these holidays and swims also means that you’ll never get the same swimming holiday twice.
TYPE OF HOLIDAY : it’s always worth making a note of the holiday type. As well as our ‘standard holidays’ we also offer more of a ‘wild swimming’ style holiday experience. Offering more swims, with shorter distances. This might suit you down to the ground, or provide a stepping stone towards our standard holidays.
NEWBEES / HEAD-UP BREASTSTROKERS / SLIGHTLY LESS CONFIDENT SWIMMERS : we have private one-off coaching sessions (or small group bookings) and open water confidence sessions and we offer coaching courses (a set of 3 sessions), we also offer very inclusive ‘assisted swims’ (the text is hyperlinked to find out more) and our ‘Wild Swimming Days Out’ may also be appropriate.
SLOW & STEADY / SHORTER DISTANCES : Wild swimming days out would be very appropriate, you may also opt for coaching, assisted swims, you’d be very welcome on our one-off (short notice) weekend swims and membership, private booking (individual and group) and the slow swimming holiday is available as well.
SLOW & STEADY LONGER DISTANCES : Wild swimming days out would be very appropriate, assisted swims, you’d be very welcome on our one-off (short notice) weekend swims and membership, private booking (individual and group) and the slow swimming holiday is available, as well as our standard swimming holidays. I could also look into our 10K Day event.
MEDIUM PACERS : You’d be welcome on any of our events, holidays or general activity. If you were a more mature swimmers that still swims well then definitely take a look at our Dash For Cash event. A handicapped 850m swim, that take age and gender into account. We run swimming MOTs (you’ll need to get in touch), which are a 30 minute coaching session
MEDIUM / FAST(ER) PACE : Again, any and all of our events and holidays are any option. We run swimming MOTs (you’ll need to get in touch), which are a 30 minute coaching session, designed to tweak your stroke and the Dash For Cash might be an option. If you have a collection of friends that swim at a similar speed, you may also look at a private booking swimming holiday.
IN SUMMARY : we’ve had quite a few people almost cancel or simply not turn up to holidays they’ve booked because of various anxieties and nerves surrounding their booking. In all cases it’s been their first swimming holiday and in every case they’ve had a good laugh with us at the end of it…and wondered why they were worried at all. Sea swimming can be quite daunting, particularly if you have limited or no sea swimming experience. As a swimming holiday company we will always put your safety first, as most suppliers will. We’ll always look for the days safest swimming conditions and never put you in unnecessary danger.
If unsure, you can always phone in and have a chat. As I’ve mentioned safety for us is paramount and if you are unsuitable we’ll advise you, we can also take you through other options that are available.
2021 above all was very…interesting. Planning was very tricky due to Covid and us basically predicting the restrictions that might be in place. The weather and wind forecasts were all over the place, with a lot of the short term forecasts being far less accurate than usual. We had to cancel our first swim ever on the beach, just before we were going to set off…as the forecast and actual conditions were wholly inaccurate. The wind strength was really strong for long parts of the summer. The water temperature was also really cool until at least the start of June. Cornwall was incredibly busy all year, so we had to factor in parking with a lot of our activity.
That being said…what a great summer of swimming it was!
We appeared in the national press 3 times over the course of the year! The Times, Financial Times and Guardian.
We started the season with quite a few swims around Mousehole Island and a few shorter routes. Mainly for safety reasons, as if you started to get cold you’d have less distance to negotiate on your way in. We have a large list of shorter swims and some stunning swims with really interesting features, so we still offered some beautiful swims. We also offered water safety / rip current awareness courses (for the first time) in the early part of the season, so swimmers could swim safely through the summer. Along with some 30 minute coaching sessions and a coaching programme we ran at the Jubilee Pool.
We ran a number of swimming holidays through the summer. We saw lots of new faces, as well as lots of returning ones. A number of these holidays were private holidays for returning groups. By the end of the summer we also got back to what we do best - a nice social trip, with pubs and cafes featuring…as well as world class swimming of course!
2021 saw us offer a new type of holiday. We held a trip in the middle of the Lizard Peninsula, with people staying in a central campsite. This made for a far more social experience and has proved to be incredibly popular.
NEW SWIMS : We’re always on the look out for new swims. I find it incredible that we still find them 4 years of swimming holiday. This year saw us swim out of Polurrian Cove on a couple of occasions. A stunning, quiet beach, just around the corner from the more popular Poldhu Cove. As well as swimming a route up towards Mullion, we also completed a more challenging 2km route from Polurrian to Poldhu.
The Sea swim Cornwall team completed a glorious swim from Porthleven to Rinsey - a quite spectacular route of around 3 miles. READ ABOUT IT HERE.
We offered a few swims at Kynance Cove this summer and accidentally (always the best way) found a secret new cave, only accessible on a certain tide. We’ll look to offer this swim next summer…occasionally.
Church Cove, on the east side of the Lizard (there are 2!), has been on our hit list for some time. This year gave us the perfect opportunity to finally offer up this swim and it did not disappoint. Words don’t do it justice. You’d be better off clicking on the link above.
A longer swim we’ve considered for some time finally got some attention. Lamorna to Mousehole. Around 4km of what we thought would be rugid, DEEP swimming but it was surprising safer than we imagined. In the right conditions, getting out is fairly straight forward, once you’re round the point at Lamorna. There is also a coastal path you can scramble up to, if needs be. Whilst it is deep in parts, there are also fairly shallow sections the whole way along. Swimming into Mousehole, from the less popular side was also a real pleasure. It’s a swim we’ll more than likely look to offer next year.
Porthchapel - hidden around the corner from Porthcurno was a real treat. There is a little scramble / climb down the rocks onto the beach…but nothing too taxing. It’s a beautiful beach and swim. It’s also a new and different option to swim to from Porthcurno.
The north side of the west of Cornwall is an area we’ve spent some time exploring. Whilst we’re happy with heading to St Ives when a strong southerly wind blows in, it’s nice to have lots of options. We’ve found a few additional swims, although some are a little tricky to get to. We’ll save these for smaller groups and on-off swims.
Praa Sands also hosted a number of swims. Whilst I’ve visited Praa Sands a number of times, I"‘ve never really rated it as a beach. This summer however, changed that. Really enjoyed spending time here. There are a number of very cool cave swims off both ends of the beach and options to swim around to Keneggy and Prussia Cove.
Poldhu Cove better known for it’s surfing has provided us with a few very nice swims this summer. There’s an awesome little channel that you can swim through on the point and you also have the option of swimming around to Church Cove and exploring a few caves.
All-in-all fantastic summer of swimming. We’ve actually learnt a little more about reading the conditions, found some new swims and tweaked a couple of our holidays for 2022.
2022 holiday dates and events are either out or being announced shortly. Holidays requiring just a £50 fee to reserve your spot at this stage. Memebership for regular local swims are also currently available for 2022. You’ll find out about events and holidays first, be offered last minute reduced entry for any spots still available on holidays, as well as receive discounted entry for weekend swims and events. CLICK HERE for more info. Membership just £20.
Strong westerly wind blows in - what do you do?
This week we were hosting a journalist for a national newspaper and the wind was howling in from the west. We had to do a bit of travelling but still got in some great swims.
A medium to strong westerly can be a little tricky to escape when on the north or west coast but it can be done…generally with a little bit of driving. With a strong westerly you may also need to check the swell direction. A SW swell along with a westerly wind may well rule out the south coast.
You can always hit most of the harbours at high tide for some sheltered swimming but if you want a bit more of an adventurous swim…
If you don’t mind a bit of a drive - Cadgwith Cove, Coverack or Church Cove in the Lizard.
You could take up the opportunity for a strong tail wind and swim from Mousehole to Sandy Cove, just before Newlyn Harbour. St Clement’s Isle (aka Mousehole Island) may also be an option.
Additionally, you could check out most of the swims in the Falmouth area, Gorran Haven, Charlestown/Porthpean, the Portscatho area or you could head for somewhere like Carrick Roads - obviously do your research on the tides.
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
We’ve pretty much swum every inch of the west Cornwall coast. Here are our top 10 swims-ish. It’s really hard!
10. Prussia Cove - it’s not just the swimming but the whole experience. Beautiful, fairly quiet cove. Magical walk down. You can swim around to Keneggy or go west and back round to the start. Typically fairly clear water, always a bit chillier than other local areas though!
9. Swimming out through Porthleven Harbour (we definitely wouldn’t recommend this without an experienced guide!) and swimming SE along the beach. This is a hard one to beat in the right conditions. It’s difficult not to be impressed with some a stunning harbour.
www.saltwaterimages.co.uk
8. Carbis Bay to Porthkidney and back. Crystal clear water and a white sand beach. Definitely worth doing at high tide.
7. Lamorna Cove. Can be a bit hit and miss. If storms and rough seas bring in seaweed it often gets stuck there for months. You get this beach right however, it’s like being in the tropics. Clear water, white sand, an abundance of fish…
6. Mousehole and St Clement’s Isle. Mousehole is one of my favourite places in the world. Stunning village and harbour. St Clement’s Isle offers a 1-1.5km swim (depending on how straight you swim!). Give the island a wide birth ensuring you don’t get too close to the seals.
Mousehole Harbour
5. Rinsey to Praa Sands and back. Loads of see on the way. A few caves and rock features to explore en route too. At the time of writing there isn’t much sand on Rinsey beach so might be difficult to get into the water.
4. Zennor. Again, this one is about the whole experience. Stunning village, followed by a stunning coastal walk. You have to scramble down the side of the valley to het to the beach…something that older, or less mobile readers may struggle with. For me though, it’s well worth the effort. Secluded bay, clear waters….don’t swim alone though and ensure someone knows where you are.
3. St Michael’s Mount. I think I’ve marked the Mount down, simply because I’ve taken so many groups around it. I don’t think I need to write much about the Mount.
2. Kynance Cove & swimming around Asparagus Island. Breath-taking swim. Incredible rock features, both on top and underneath the water. The walk down to the beach is worth a visit alone. Best swimming at low tide and get there early. It gets very busy in the summer months.
1. Porthcurno. World Class swimming here. Plan your swim for mid-low tide or on a small neap tide. It’s great at high tide but it just gets a bit deeper, a bit darker, the golden sands get lost a little under a high tide. You can swim over to Logan Rock or head west and take in the Minack Theatre.
*To help plan your swims in Cornwall we’ve created a Cornish swimming map book - where you can record, plan and get suggestions for your swimming trip or check out our Cornish Swim Trumps card game. CLICK HERE
Tom lives on the outskirts of Penzance, so knows the area really well….and what an area! In terms of swims you’re spoilt for choice. In the immediate area you have Penzance sea front which is best at high tide, the Battery Rocks being a particularly popular area. Along the same stretch you have the famous Jubilee Lido and Penzance harbour - which offers great sheltered conditions at high tide.
The highlights of the Penzance area are St Michael’s Mount (you need to swim this in the right conditions), Mousehole Harbour and Island, there are some wonderful cave swims on the outer Penzance area (but the area is my favourite and I’m not telling!). A little further out you have Porthcurno, Penberth Cove, Lamorna Cove….all stunning.
The issue with Penzance, much like St Ives is the fact that pretty much all face south. If you have chop and wind coming in from the south you’ll struggle for a local swim. You do have St Ives just up the road though, that is north facing.
Image from www.saltwaterimages.com
