Cornwall

Cornwall sits on the south-western tip of Britain and runs one of the largest tide ranges in Europe. Newquay on the north coast sees a mean range close to 4.5 metres and spring tides push toward 7. The Bristol Channel approaches just to the north produce world-class swings: Avonmouth tops 12 metres at the largest spring tides. The pattern across the county is semidiurnal, two highs and two lows about twelve and a half hours apart. That swing transforms the day on every coast: Fistral and Watergate Bay's beaches widen by tens of metres at low water, the Gannel estuary south of Newquay drains almost completely on each ebb and refills over a four-hour flood, and tide pools at the foot of the headlands open up on the lowest spring tides of the month. Surfers read the same table differently — the local breaks reshape across each cycle. UK Hydrographic Office Admiralty TotalTide is the authoritative British tide product.