What you can see on the La Barrosa webcams
All three cameras stream live from the northern end of the beach. From above the promenade you look straight out over the sand to the open Atlantic: the view for judging the surf, the crowds and the tide. Another looks across the mouth of the Sancti Petri channel, where the ebb uncovers sandbanks and the island castle sits on the horizon. The third is the quiet one: the still pools of a restored salt pan in the marshes behind the village, a view of the landscape rather than of the beach.
La Barrosa beach webcam, live from the promenade
This live camera stands on the terrace of Hostal El Campanario, at the northern end of La Barrosa, and faces south-west straight out to sea. In the foreground are the hostel's awnings and lawn; beyond them run the paved seafront promenade, with its palms, an arched entrance and a beach kiosk, then the wide golden sand and the Atlantic all the way to the horizon. To the right the beach curves away towards Sancti Petri.
It is the view to check before heading down: how many people are already on the sand, whether a line of white water is breaking along the shore, and how much the palms are bending in the wind. In the late afternoon the sun sits in front of the lens and sinks into the ocean, and the website that runs the camera puts it forward as the one for watching the sunset.
Sancti Petri webcam: the channel and the island castle
Filmed live from the beach of the old tuna village, beside a water-sports company, this camera looks south-west across the mouth of the Sancti Petri channel. Raked sand and a small hut fill the foreground; then comes the water, dotted with buoys and moored boats, and on the horizon, left of centre, the low outline of the Castle of Sancti Petri on its islet. The sandy shore across the channel closes the view on the right.
Its use is the tide. At low water the channel turns shallow, sandbanks rise in the middle and people wade far out from the beach; as the water comes back in, the boats moored off the village float again and traffic to the marina picks up. Ripples or whitecaps on the surface tell you how much wind there is for paddling or sailing.
The salt marshes of Chiclana, at Salina Santa Teresa
This live camera is not on the beach but a short way inland, in the grounds of Salina Santa Teresa, an old salt pan near Sancti Petri village that has been brought back to life with a restaurant, a salt-water spa and mud baths. It looks south-west across the still pools. On the left stand the white canopies of the restaurant terrace; a sandy path lined with stones and marsh plants leads past a traditional wooden boat resting on a cradle at the water's edge, and beyond lie the flat salt pans and marshland, with houses low on the horizon.
It shows a calmer side of the Chiclana coast: the light on the water, the colour of the sky over the marshes and, at the end of the day, the sun dropping towards the marshes.
The Battle of Barrosa, 1811
On 5 March 1811, during the Peninsular War, an Allied army fought the French on the ridge above this beach. British troops under Sir Thomas Graham, with Spanish and Portuguese allies, beat Marshal Victor's men, and the 87th Regiment of Foot, later the Royal Irish Fusiliers, captured a French imperial eagle. It was the first eagle taken in battle by British forces in the Peninsular War, and it earned the 87th the nickname "the Eagle Catchers". Royal Navy ships and the Barossa Range in South Australia were named after the battle.
When to watch La Barrosa
Mainland Spain is one hour ahead of the UK and Ireland all year. The beach faces south-west, so the sun sets over the ocean and the cameras look into the light in the late afternoon; mornings give the clearest picture. Unlike the Mediterranean, this coast has real tides: at low water the beach widens a long way and sandbanks rise in the Sancti Petri channel. The levante, the strong easterly of the Strait, can blow sand along the beach for days at a time.
Around La Barrosa
Torre Bermeja, an old watchtower, stands on the low cliff between La Barrosa and Sancti Petri beach, and the 16th-century Torre del Puerco guards the headland at the southern end. The castle on its islet was built between the 16th and 18th centuries, on a site linked since antiquity to a temple of Hercules. Cádiz is about 16 miles (25 km) by road from Chiclana.
Visiting La Barrosa
Sancti Petri was a tuna-fishing village until its almadraba closed in the 1970s; today the old village has a marina, restaurants and water-sports companies. Jerez is the nearest airport, about 34 miles (55 km) by road from the beach.
