Since moving to Newquay we have been meaning to walk alongside the River Gannel to Crantock beach and we finally made it a few days ago! Unfortunately, we did not pick the best morning to try and had to abandon our walk just before the beach as the heavens opened and we all got absolutely drenched! It was still a lovely walk and we were able to walk from our home to Newquay boating lake, cross the road to the Gannel River and walk alongside the river, cutting up into some woodland by Penpol Creek and down over some rocks to Crantock beach.
Aside from the weather, it was a great walk and we found lots of rope swings in trees to entertain the kids along the way, and of course, they loved splashing in the puddles and walking through the river and sand in their wellies!
From Newquay boating lake to Crantock beach is around a 4km walk. We walked for 3km, taking a slight diversion into some woodland, but we didn’t walk all the way to the main beach as we turned around to head home once we were all soaked through and the rain became too much!
Typically on the way home, the sun came out! The kids were singing sun songs, so they were sure they made it come out. But soaked through, we all wanted to get home to get changed and dry!
We turned around when beat by the rain and crossed over the river to walk along the Pentire side of the Gannel to head home.
We had started at the low tide bridge near the boating lake in Newquay.
Both bridges can be crossed from the Newquay side at low tide, but completely disappear at high tide when the river rises substantially.
With this in mind, it’s best to plan this walk around low tide to make sure you don’t get cut off… or it could be a long walk back home… or a long wait to get back across!
Check out my photos of our walk and some comments on what we saw below!
If you’re visiting Newquay in Cornwall and looking for a riverside walk with the possibility of escaping into some woodland, seeing streams and finding rope swings, with a beach at the end, then this could be the walk for you!




















Save on National Trust membership
Crantock is a National Trust location. If you have a membership then you can park for free if you’d rather drive to the beach and park in the National Trust carpark.
If you are interested in a National Trust membership then you can save on an annual membership by getting cash back. Use my link to sign up to TopCashback and see the latest saving at National Trust here: https://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/victoriasully/national-trust
That looks like a beautiful route, with some lovely views; thanks for sharing the photos!
Looks great – my kids would love the rope swings!
There were so many! I’m sure they helped to stop the kids complaining about the walk. Not one complaint 🙂