We are currently enjoying ourselves on our third trip of the summer, and I just realised that I cant blog about this trip until I’ve blogged about trip number two.
As soon as we’d been away in early July we knew we wanted to make the most of our summer and so we booked up trips two and three while on the campsite at Pentewan Sands.
Trip number two was a visit to Watermouth Cove, a campsite right on the North Devon Coast amongst some of the most scenic (and highest) coastal cliffs of England. We chose it because of it’s direct access to the sea – it has a harbour on one side and a beach – well really an inlet – on the other. With fantastic coastal scenery and massive tidal reach this is a superb spot for getting out on the water whether you want to launch a SUP, a kayak or something powered by more than just your arm muscles.
The harbour at low tide
Bertie can often be seen with a big yellow banana on top. Our kayak has accompanied us on many a journey, but recently our it’s been stuck in a shed at our old house. So when we popped out to do some work for our tenants we picked up the kayak and crossed our fingers for calm weather and sunshine.
In a three night break we managed two long kayaking excursions, including a spot of fishing for our supper. The bay, beaches and rocky islets managed to look almost tropical in the warm humid weather and gave us plenty to explore along with the many other paddlers, jet skis and even a couple of people on some very futuristic looking hyrdrofoil boards. My arm muscles were very sore by the end of the weekend, they really are not used to getting much exercise.
Getting ready to launch at Watermouth Cove
On a whim one evening we booked ourselves up for a bit of adventure. The activities centre on the campsite offered a range of water-based guided activities and we made the rash decision to do a spot of ‘Coasteering’. We both love a bit of adventure, but I do have an issue with jumping off stuff. When we went Canyoning in Scotland I had to be ‘encouraged’ (ok pushed) off a rock and that was only about 3 meters above the water. Here they boasted jumps of 10 meters which is way out of my comfort zone. I spent a sleepless night worrying about the three hour session, would we be accompanied by a bunch of kids who would see me humiliate myself? would i give up at the first hurdle? In the end I shouldn’t have worried. We were in a small group with a family and Becky, our guide. We started with small jumps and worked our way up to higher and higher leaps, occasionally being challenged by trying to catch a tennis ball while jumping. it made it all great fun and I almost managed to forget about the height. Almost. I have to admit to opting out of the two highest jumps, but was pretty proud of myself for managing to leap off the rocks at all and really enjoyed the clambering around the rocks, squirming through caves and swimming around the bottom of the cliffs.
Around all of this sea based activity we also managed a few short coastal walks. Just the stroll around the top camping field is lovely with lots of paths and steps along the cliff tops (including some good fishing spots off the rocks). Broadsands beach with it’s 200 steps down the cliff was only a short walk away and worth a visit (but much easier to access by sea).
Somewhere in the distant field of white boxes is Bertie
This campsite was pretty special and we know we’ll be heading back again next summer.