Friendly surf beaches^

[Sam the assistant]

Hiya

Me and a friend are planning a surf holiday down in the South West in the last week of August. At the moment we are operating on the 'We don't have a plan, so nothing can go wrong' principle. Does any body have advice on good surf beaches to try, with kayak friendly surfers, and cheap campsites nearby?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Sam

[tpage]

Sam,
I can Highly recommend Larbrax beach in the South West- It gets the same fetch as Machrahanish- but you will almost certainly have the break to yourselves. You can camp in the dunes for free.

Enjoy the South West.
Tony

map link

[steddyjames]

I making the assumption the question is referring to south west UK. As this is the UK rivers guidebook.....not SW Scotland!!

[Jim]

Well I was going to recommend Macrihanish, a bit busier but the beach is huge so there is never any hassle. You can camp properly in Macrihanish, wild camping at middle beach seems to be tolerated, just don't bother to wild camp at westport because the campbeltown neds will at the least do your car over and may well take you on too. In fact if you are surfing there, make sure you leave before it gets dark....

JIM

[Vanden]

It really depends on where abouts in the south west you are going.

I personally like to surf at Bigbury/Bantham near Plymouth. There are often boats there (I'm normally one of them) and it is easy to stay away from the boardies as they don't like sufing on the river mouth.

Saunton and Croyde are popular with surfers and I sometimes go up to Widemouth bay near Bude but it is a bit more difficult to avoid surfers. As for further done into Cornwall I'm afraid I can't help as I haven't been kayak surfing down.

V

[tpage]

I making the assumption the question is referring to south west UK. As this is the UK rivers guidebook.....not SW Scotland!!

Oops!- Your absolutely right there. The river I was guiding him to is in SW Scotland and not SW UK. Tony

[Bertie..]

Sam,

I regularly surf Saunton, Woolacombe, Putsbourough, & the beaches around Bude - they're all kayak friendly these days. In August you're main problem is going to be everyone fighting over waves if there are any, and avoiding the crowds.

If there is only a small number of you, and you're good at kayak surfing then it's worth looking at some of the smaller less well known areas, but you'd probably have to demonstrate to the line-up that you know what you're doing before getting anywhere.

Avoid Newquay, unless you like spending time with wannabee surfers who think kayak baiting is all part of the 'scene'.

just my thoughts... ;-)

[Richard Uren]

South West to me indicates west of Truro!
Godrevy & Gwithian are great breaks, fairly sociable especially if you can show that you are in control.
Sennen Cove will be very crowded & Gwenver is rather anti kayak at the mo.
Regarding camping book early !
tryhttp://www.chycor.co.uk/camping/kelynack/index.htm

[Richard Uren]

try
http://www.chycor.co.uk/camping/kelynack/index.htm

[Sam the assistant]

Thanks everyone, I did mean SW England sorry for the confusion.

Near Plymouth sounds good, I have some cousins to sponge night at.

[NickB]

You may get lucky with Bigbury /Bantham (40 mins from Plymouth) in the Plymouth area, but in the summer these breaks can be rare, better off trying the North Coast, maybe Widemouth/Bude area or Polzeath (both about an hour from Plymouth) but these can get busy, maybe try early mornings or evenings on popular breaks or have a little paddle around the coast for an inaccessible to boardie type break!