DOOM BAR
There is a decent sized car park with toilets and a shop. The Doom Bar is the sandbar at the mouth of the estuary of the River Camel, composed mainly of marine sand that is continually being carried up from the seabed. According to tradition, the Doom Bar formed in the reign of Henry VIII, damaging the prosperity of the port of Padstow a mile up the estuary. A Cornish folklore legend however relates that a mermaid created the bar as a dying curse on the harbour after she was shot by a local man. Many ships have been wrecked on the Doom Bar and in 1848 Padstow Harbour Association cut down a small piece of Stepper Point to give ships extra “fair wind” into the harbour. Modern dredging techniques have widened the channel to reduce the hazard to Navigation but accidents have still occurred as recently as 1997. Nowadays its name is most famous as the flagship ale from Sharp’s Brewery just outside Rock. From surf dudes and city slickers to royalty and semi alcoholic windsurfing photographers, this mild 4% bitter has become the bestselling cask ale in the UK.