The Gannel Estuary

The Gannel is a tidal estuary that separates Newquay and Crantock village with the River Gannel itself flowing into the sea over the expansive Crantock Beach.

By road the Gannel Estuary is South West of Newquay on the left of the Gannel Link Road as you head towards the Mount Wise roundabout. On foot, there are several different foot bridge crossings over the Gannel but in all cases they can be covered by the tide. The crossing by the Trenance boating lake and the crossing further down can be crossed about two hours either side of low tide.  There is an alternative during the Summer Season (late May to early September)  when the Fern Pit Café has a bridge crossing but in this case when that is covered by the tide they run an on demand foot ferry from 10:00am until 6:00pm.

The Gannel has a long history. In the industrial hey day of tin mining and large scale pilchard fishing it was frequently dredged  so schooners and small barges could transport these goods plus coal, timber or sand up the river to be loaded on to trains, trams and road vehicles.

Though tidal the River Gannel is quite protected so is popular for Kayaking and other water sport activities. It is also a very active wildlife area with wading birds including the little egret, and fish such as salmon, bass, smelt and shad) plus brown and sea trout.