The sun always shines when we visit Porth Oer and today was no exception. This must be my favourite beach with clean white sand with dark coloured rocks with a small cave and rock pools full of sea anemones at low tide. It is popular with families and also surfers. Backed by grassy cliffs made of boulder clay, these can become unstable after a lot of rain and landslips are common leaving a brown gash in the grass. It is unwise to sit or lie immediately under the cliffs…
It was high tide when we visited, so we didn’t bother to drop down the road from the car park to the beach with National Trust Cafe. At very low spring tides at the equinoxes it is often possible to paddle round into the smaller cove to the north.
We took the coastal footpath signed from the corner of the car park through the alder grove and onto the cliffs. This is a very easy walk along the edge of the cliff with super views down to Porth Oer and along the coast. With a strong wind making walking difficult we didn’t venture far today, but it is possible to walk over Anelog to the old coast guard station at Mynydd Mawr and then to Aberdaron. This is the Llyn at its best.
The beach and surrounding land belongs to the National Trust and there is a £4 charge per car per day, although parking is free for National Trust members.
And do the sands whistle?
Wearing rubber sole plimsoles and shuffing our feet across the dry sand at the top of the beach, the sands do squeak. The noise is created by the unique shape of the sand particles and there is only one other beach in Europe which also ‘whistles’.
