Loe Bar Beach

Loe Bar is one of the most remarkable and unusual coastal features in Cornwall, a shingle bar nearly half a mile long that separates The Loe, Cornwall's largest natural freshwater lake, from the sea. The bar is managed by the National Trust and the beach on the seaward side is a dramatic, exposed stretch of coarse shingle and sand facing the open Atlantic. The bar itself is dangerous, with a notorious undertow in the surf zone that has claimed many lives over the centuries, but the upper bar and lake edge are excellent for walking.

Dogs are welcome at Loe Bar year-round and the National Trust estate land is open for dog walking with appropriate care. The seaward beach should be treated with great respect given the known dangers, but the lakeside path along the back of the bar and around The Loe itself provides magnificent dog walking country. The Loe is a SSSI and dogs should be kept under control near nesting areas and the lake margins. The combination of the eerie freshwater lake, the crashing Atlantic beach on the other side and the extraordinary geology of the bar itself makes this one of the most distinctive dog walking destinations in Cornwall for owners who want something genuinely different.