One of the things I love most about my train adventures is they take me off the beaten path to explore places and discover treasure I wasn’t expecting to find.
Like a bell in the middle of a lonely beach.
The Time and Tide Bell at Par Sands in Cornwall is just one of a collection of bells of the same name dotted around the coast of Great Britain. Designed to toll as the tide rises but also change their tone over the years as sea levels rise, these bells have been created to reinforce connections between people, at the same time as linking us to our environment.
I wasn’t expecting to find a Time and Tide Bell at Par.
Researching a place before you visit it can help you plan your train adventure but there’s something really exciting about getting off a train and having no idea what you’re going to find once you leave the station.
Which is how my daughter and I (plus two emergency bananas) found ourselves standing in the Cornish drizzle, gazing at the already distant tide, listening to the hum of China clay works and thinking Par Sands really was perhaps not the Cornwall beach destination we had been hoping for.
But like good explorers we continued our quest.
In fact, the noise from the clay works faded into the background as we strolled, under clearing skies down the beach towards the outline of the old breakwater. The sun appeared, and the light through the thinning clouds, in true Cornish style, was stunning.
And then we spotted the Time and Tide Bell.
At first I thought it was a warning bell, designed to highlight the presence of the rocks of the former breakwater. Bells have a maritime history, they were used from boats during fog to warn others in the area and occasionally on rocks such as the infamous Bell (Inchape) Rock in Scotland (whose bell was reportedly stolen by pirates).
But the Time and Tide Bell has a deeper meaning.
We didn’t realise this until we did some home research but because it was low tide, we did get to approach Par’s Time and Tide Bell and give it a gentle ring. Did you know that bells play a complex set of long lasting harmonics as well as their prime note?
A hauntingly beautiful sound.
Listen to a Time and Tide Bell
And a very clever design. The floating buoy triggers the clapper inside the bell. This means that the sound created reflects the motion of the waves on that particular day, creating a unique soundscape for each visitor. The sounds of the bell are also designed to change over the years as sea levels rise.
It’s predicted that some of the Time and Tide Bells will eventually have to be moved to protect them from the rising seas.
Where are the Time and Tide Bells?
While we were looking at Par’s Time and Tide Bell, my daughter mentioned she’d seen a similar one just round the corner from us in Brixham. We now know the Brixham bell is also part of the growing collection of Tide and Tide Bells set all around the country.
Map of the Time and Tide Bells
Like any keen train adventurer would, I have since worked out how many of the Time and Tide Bells we could get to by train (with a reasonable walk at the other end).
- Time and Tide Par – Par station
- Time and Tide Aberdyfi – Aberdovey station
- Time and Tide Morecambe Bay – Morcambe station
- Time and Tide Redcar – Redcar Central station
- Time and Tide Trinity Buoy Wharf – Canning Town station
- Time and Tide Harwich – Harwich station
That’s six out of the current thirteen bells that you can reach by train. I shall be taking the bus to Brixham and finding my nearest one very soon.
Par station to the Time and Tide Bell
It’s an easy and pleasant walk from Par Station to the Time and Tide Bell at Par Sands. The bell is positioned almost mid way between Par’s mean (average) high and low tides. My advice would be to check the tide timetables and aim for low tide if you want to walk right up to it (the water goes out a long way here).
- Station: Par station (a GWR station)
- Walk time: 25 minutes
- Terrain: Footpaths, some road crossings, sand
- Toilets: Par station
- Refreshments: Par Beach Cafe, Par Athletics Track, The Ship Inn
Walking directions:
- Leave Par station through the car park and head into the park next door.
- Follow the stream past and round the end of the athletics track.
- Take the short path between the houses, cross the road then turn right.
- Almost immediately you’ll see a South West Coast Path sign showing the route to Par beach. Follow the path between more houses.
- Follow the track past the stream and over the road to enter Par Beach Nature Reserve.
- Continue in the same direction until you reach the sand dunes and beach. The China clay works will be on your right.
- Follow the double lines of the old breakwater (lower tides only) until you come to the Time and Tide Bell.
Note: At low tide you can explore Par Beach further but make sure you check the tide times before you do so as some areas of sand may become cut off.
Once you’ve finished exploring, you can return the way you came or take a route round the wildlife pond and through the holiday park (please stick to the public rights of way).
Par to Polkerris
For further entertainment and adventure, you could follow the South West Coast Path round to quintessentially Cornish Polkerris beach and cut back to the holiday park across the (rather steep) fields. When the tide’s up you might hear the Time and Tide Bell as you walk.
The Cornish Saints’ Way
The Cornish Saints’ Way is a 27-mile, coast-to-coast walk that takes you across from Fowey in the south of Cornwall to Padstow in the north. It has two branches, is part of the longer Cornish Celtic Way and takes three days to walk.
If you wanted to complete a section of the Saints’ Way by train, one branch runs through Par and goes through Luxulyan, which also has a train station. This route is only seven kilometres long and will take you about 2.5 hours.
I’m looking forward to trying it!
At this point, I’d like to say a big thank you to GWR and their staff. I always have a great experience travelling with them, especially in Devon and Cornwall.