Womens Surf Camp UK | My Experience of Cornish Wave’s Women’s Surf Weekend in Cornwall
WHAT WAS I THINKING? Not going to lie, as I was driving down to Newquay on the Friday afternoon the nerves of meeting lots of new people and arriving by myself was making me think if this was a good idea, but straight away our hosts for the weekend instantly made us all feel welcome and any nerves I did have were soon gone.
FRIDAY EVENING...
We met around 6pm at the Cornish Wave shop in Newquay, and once we had all said our hellos we made our way to their wild camp for the first evening. One word. Wow.
It says wild camping and yes, it has that rugged look and charm but I was so so surprised and pleased with the amount of hidden luxury that was there. We had composting toilets which were actually super cute with painted panels, plants…very on trend. The bell tents were carpeted and were all on decks definitely making it feel a little more substantial than just a tent in a woodland!
The hosts gave us a tour of the woodland, which also included an axe throwing area (more on that later), a fully equipped kitchen, games area, BBQ area and a communal fire pit which was underneath a massive military parachute.
If this is wild camping, I can more than cope with this!
The first evening was a mixture of everyone getting to know one another, a glass or 2 of our drink of choice (Merlot every time for me) and I was pleasantly surprised that I was 1 of 5 other solo travellers on this weekend. I shared a tent with 2 other solo travellers, and I have to say, the tents were immaculate and quite spacious with three girls and all of our luggage…it seems I’m not the only one to pack for every eventuality!
SATURDAY LUNCH...
Once we were suitably Belly-boarded out, we headed back to the changing rooms and hit the town to find some lunch. Newquay has that great mix of Cornish meets trendy meets there's something for everyone in the way of food. We opted for avocado on toast (10/10) at the Fore Street Cafe, handily only next door to Cornish Wave’s shop. Along with some of the other women, we browsed a few of the local surf shops and was able to have a bit of down time before the afternoon!
BACK AT THE CAMP...
We had some time before heading back to our camp to go to the local Sainsburys as this was the BBQ night, so we needed to arm ourselves with the BBQ’ing food essentials. The second evening at the camp involved voting a camp chef (and she was a chef so we had all lucked out!) and a very competitive axe throwing tournament. I was terrible and got eliminated in the first round, but the other girls did pretty well!
The camp itself as it got dark was lit with candles and fairy lights, and truly was something out of instagram. The hosts from Cornish Wave stayed with us and joined in the games, and chat as we all reflected on what an epic day we have all had. My top tip would be to bring layers! Whilst the camp and the bell tents are super cosy, it can get chilly!
SUNDAY MORNING...
Our last morning in the camp started like the one before, oodles of coffee and a camp breakfast. I have to be honest, I was feeling a little achy from the activities the day before, but it wasn't long until we were heading back to Newquay to get into those wetsuits for our last surf lesson. Our second lesson definitely upped a level and some of us were trying to catch unbroken wave “out back”. As what has become our usual, there was plenty of laughs, tons of encouragement and of course shakas thrown around like nobody’s business. I had found my girl gang.
SEE YOU SOON... (It's not goodbye)
After our lesson, we were all well and truly activity’d out. I can’t lie, I was a little sad when it came to the goodbyes, the weekend went so so quickly. The instructors and hosts of our weekend were amazing, and made us all feel like one of the team right from the get go. I couldn’t believe I had been nervous about joining this weekend, when (all out cringe here) its been one of the best weekends I’ve ever had. I’ve made friends who I’ll stay in contact with, and I’m unashamedly a little addicted to Belly boarding and will certainly be back for another Adventure Weekend with Cornish Wave.