Great Southwest Surf Trip

Cruising between beaches at your own pace, tunes rolling, a couple of friends along for the ride. Parking up, going for a beach stroll. To surf, or not to surf? With online comparison websites opening up numerous cheap car hire opportunities, perhaps now is the time to outline the ‘Great Southwest Surf Trip’, or at least sketch some ideas. Hiring a car can be very cost-effective, especially if you’re splitting the expenses with others.

Let’s imagine you’re heading out from London, due south. Destination: Newquay Bay, Cornwall. Set your satellite navigation system, or your more primitive mental map, for North Devon’s Croyde Bay. Reaching here from London should take between three and five hours. Take the M4, departing at Junction 20 to join the M5. Continue until Junction 27, the A361 exit towards Tiverton/Barnstaple. Follow signs from here to the coast. I would suggest some laid-back surf grooves to get you in the beach mood: try some home-grown reggae-funk from local legends The Universe Inspectors.

In North Devon you’ll find yourself spoilt for choice: several golden sand beaches are crammed into a short coastal stretch. Croyde Bay itself is the most popular with surfers and is home to ‘Surf South West’ and ‘Surfing Croyde Bay’ surf-schools – perhaps you’re looking to brush-up your technique. Boards and wetsuits are available for hire at competitive prices. Croyde village, quaint though it may be, has some excellent surf shops and lively watering holes offering good food, local ales and evening entertainment.

Explore the area, making trips to nearby beaches such as Woolacombe Bay, Saunton Sands, Putsborough Sands and Barricane Beach. Braunton boasts numerous surf shops and has a relaxed atmosphere: a great place to pause for a quick coffee or ice cream. If you fancy doing something a tad ‘off-the-wall’, go ambling around Braunton Borrows, England’s largest sand dune system, a challenging terrain still used (occasionally) for military training. Heading down the A39 on the North Cornish Coast, take a break at Bude. Some noteworthy spots here include Summerleaze Beach, Sandymouth and Widemouth Bay, all of which are used by surf-school ‘Bude Surfing Experience’ for tuition. Summerleaze is the biggest and most popular. It’s also a site of outstanding natural beauty. Enjoy the relative solitude and tranquillity of Bude’s beaches before ploughing on – still on the A39 – to Newquay’s Fistral Bay.

Recognised as the UK’s leading surf beach, Fistral hosts numerous international competitions throughout the year. It can be crowded in the summer months; though if you spend a while in the surf it’s easy to see why: the waves can get big, thanks to a reef at the beach’s north end. Drop-off your ride in Newquay, or perhaps make it a round tour – that’s the wondrous freedom of The Road Trip for you.

Granted, the waves may not be as monstrous, the sea as warm, the scope as grandiose as those well-worn wonders of The Surf Road – I’m thinking Baja California or Australia’s Pacific Coast – but the Southwest is scenic, peaceful (for the most part) and only a few hours’ drive away.

Carl Stevens loves to travel at every given opportunity and to record his adventures and impressions. He is particularly interested in islands, culture and ecology, and interweaves his writing with these subjects.