IN my quest to visit more of the British coasts I found my way to Newquay.
The town has become a favourite in the summer with stag and hen parties, groups celebrating birthdays and teenagers marking the end of school – and it is not hard to see why.
There are bars and clubs packed into such a small town centre and the area is heaving with people wanting a good time.
Visiting Newquay in the heart of the summer, on a bank holiday, was probably not a wise idea and we ended up staying in a cheap surf lodge that was a building site on one side and a hospital corridor on the other.
As grim and basic as our accommodation was, there was never a dull moment during our stay at our “palace”. From the three guys in the room next door singing Shabba Ranks at 4am and the bar downstairs held a rock karaoke, it was obvious nobody slept in Newquay.
By day, Newquay was buzzing with people visiting the many fudge and pasty shops, and tourist stores, and as expected all the beaches are full of families and surfers. The ones closest to the centre of the town, Tolcarne Beach and the famous Fistral Beach, are great – clean sand, fairly litter free and with great views across the brilliant blue sea. For the first time in my life I had seen bright blue sea in the UK. I thought I had to go abroad to see that kind of clean seawater like that. It was incredible.
Famous for Sailors bar and surfing, Newquay was great fun. The people were friendly and there were plenty of scones to go round, but while this was all good enough to satisfy a typical Midlander like me who gets excited by any sight of sea and sand, I just knew this was not the best there was to see of Cornwall.
So, I will look forward to next summer when I will make the long drive down again and venture to another part of the Cornish coast in search of more of its truly British offerings, and I know I won’t be disappointed.