Short answer: Loe Bar is about 20 minutes' walk east of Porthleven along the coast path: a great shingle bar holding back Loe Pool, Cornwall's largest natural lake. You can carry on round the lake through the National Trust's Penrose estate, about six miles in all, with the Stables Café roughly halfway. Never swim at Loe Bar, and don't touch the water in Loe Pool.
The walk from Porthleven to Loe Bar is one of the best short coast walks in west Cornwall: cliffs and sea on one side, and then a vast shingle bank with a lake behind it.
From the harbour, follow the coast path east past the clock tower and up onto the cliffs. Loe Bar is about 20 minutes' walk. From there you can:
No, never. The National Trust bans swimming at Loe Bar because of dangerous currents and the steeply shelving shingle; people have been swept out to sea paddling here in rough weather. Loe Pool is off-limits too: no swimming, boating or fishing, and the Trust warns of blue-green algae, so keep dogs out of the water.
In 1807 the frigate HMS Anson was wrecked on Loe Bar with the loss of more than 100 lives. Watching from the shore, Helston's Henry Trengrouse went on to invent a rocket-fired line for rescuing sailors from wrecks.
Welcome, on short leads around livestock, and on leads near Loe Pool from March to August to protect ground-nesting birds.
Walk from Porthleven (Kittos Field), or use the National Trust's donation car parks at Penrose. Porthleven parking.
The National Trust runs guided social walks through the autumn (including Loe Pool on 20 October and Penrose Parkland on 15 December) and an exhibition, Swelen, from 24 October to 29 November.
More: dog-friendly Porthleven · Helston on a rainy day · the Porthleven guide.
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