A whale and a crab on Pentewan beach


Colourful sunset at Pentewan beach at Cornwall

Last Sunday we decided to try watching the sunrise, do a spot of rock pooling and have a picnic breakfast. Sam and Wilf were up early as always so we packed our toast and jam and a hot flask, grabbed the buckets, nets and spades and headed for Pentewan beach. The sunrise was spectacular, as they often are at this time of year, and it is always something special if you watch it from the shore.

We headed down to the rock pool area when something far across the beach caught our eye – this mound was big… very big. We thought it looked whale shaped with a fin sticking up. So with our curiosity awakened we turned away from the lure of rock pool adventures towards a bigger quest altogether.

whale-2

We knew we would have to cross the fast flowing Pentewan river but we were on a mission now. So with rolled up trousers and bare feet Paul and I entered the icy waters and gritted our teeth as we carried the children across. Brrr! That was really cold.

We could see that this was definitely a whale and a big one, as big as two cars. It was obviously dead as we could smell decaying flesh as we approached.

Nevertheless, it was amazing to see such a gargantuan creature on the beach in front of us, something I have never seen before in my huge number of years on the planet. We speculated on how it arrived here and when I got home I searched the news features and discovered it was a juvenile Minke whale, nowhere near fully grown.

Charlie then arrived with her treasure – an enormous hermit crab – again I’ve not seen such a big one on our shores before.

family-on-beach

Even more excitement and it wasn’t even 8am! We then tucked in to our tea and toast and went home full of stories about a hermit crab in a snail shell and a whale – mmm I think that may be a title for a book one day!

I never stop reminding myself how lucky I am to live here in beautiful Cornwall with adventures around every corner.

Useful information

For more information about what to see and do in the Pentewan area, beach, take a look at our blog – Nanny Pat’s days out: Pentewan Beach.

Getting there

Pentewan beach is a short drive from Bosinver and there is free parking available in the village, 500m from the beach.

Turn left out of the driveway at Bosinver, then left again. Drive through Polgooth village and continue on this road till you reach the T junction opposite the Kingswood restaurant. Turn right towards Mevagissey on the B3272. Pentewan is approximately 2 miles along this road on the right.

What’s the most interesting or unusual thing you’ve found on the beach in Cornwall? We’d love to hear about it – why not leave a comment below, post a picture on our Facebook wall or tweet @Bosinver?

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