Newquay and such.

Newquay Main Beach. - Kiff House, ne?

It is Monday morning, I am in bed, listening to the new Elbow album as I write this. What an incredible weekend I have just had. Hands down, the best of the lot since I set foot on these British shores.
I had my job interview on Wednesday (still waiting on the news), and I had found out that I would only learn of the result of said interview early this coming week. So Kends and I planned on maximising this weekend, as I would most likely be spending part of my Saturday's in a store if I land this job. We made a last minute decision to head for the North shores of Cornwall on Saturday morning, to Newquay, Britain's most famed surfing spot. Thursday night, we booked our train tickets, and spent most of Friday in palpable excitement and anticipation. We booked the early train, as we wanted to spend as much time there as possible, seeing as the journey was two hours each way. Alarms woke us at 6:30, the earliest I have woken since I have been here. We made the trek to the train station, and arrived there just before 8:00.

Newquay Bay

Newquay Bay

Newquay Bay

Newquay Bay

The train was pleasant enough, apart from being designed for midgets. I could not fit my legs in my seat, and had to sit sideways the entire trip there, curse these long pins of mine sometimes. Anyways, we arrived in Newquay at around 10, and headed straight for the beach, no surprises there, I know. Newquay is a really cool surf and beach orientated town, much like Margate or St Michaels, and is the first place I've been that has an actual beach, not a massive collection of pebbles along the shore. The beach is absolutely enormous, it must have been around 150 meters from my first steps on the sand to where the water met the land. Although, the tidal range was mindblowing! In 2 and a half hours, the tide had come in about 80 meters, I kid you not. Kends and I have both noticed how much larger the tidal differences are compared to ours back in South Africa.

So while I lounged on the beach and soaked up some sun; yes, SUN; Kends (my little Seal girl) donned her waterproof ensemble of a wetsuit and took to the surf. Her famous words of, "It's really cold, so I won't be in for too long, don't worry" still ringing freshly in my ears an hour and a bit later, when she finally emerged from the icy waters. It is actually quite funny how desperate the people here are to get in the water, I mean, Kends was wearing a 5mm wetsuit, a hoody, booties and gloves, all just to be in the water for a bit. It really makes you appreciate our lovely Indian Ocean back home.

My little Seal <3

So Kends got out of her Seal uniform, and we headed into town to see what this place was all about. And lo and behold, Surf shop - Food shop - Surf shop- Food shop. All a surfer really needs, haha.
We walked through the entire town and back, working up a mean appetite in the process. We decided to combat this development with a hearty English Breakfast. How delicious it was, eggs, bacon, fried tomato, baked beans, it was just what the doctor ordered. We spent the rest or our afternoon there lounging on a patch of grass overlooking the bay, watching the tide come in. We slowly trotted back to the train station, stopping in at Burger King for a chocolate milkshake for sustenance on our trip home, obviously.

Island house, High Tide.

Not my ideal food choice.

Now, the best part about the trip home, was the fact that we managed to acquire ourselves some 1st Class tickets for the same price as an economy ticket. We have no idea why, but we aren't complaining, or asking why. Bigger, more comfortable, leather reclining chairs proceeded to caress us all the way home. Aaaaaah, this is the way to travel. We arrived back home at 20:30, the sun still out, illuminating our walk home. Spring/summer here is something really special.

We spent our Sunday with our most recent addition to the family... a brand new downhill longboard. She is gorgeous, he name is Daisy. We bought her at a local skateshop, and I spent most of the day pushing Kends around town on it. We stopped in at home for a bean bunny (which has become a sunday tradition by the way, we make our own one every sunday), and watched the mighty Reds hold off Arsenal at the Emirates. At around 18:00, we headed out to the Hoe, where there is a massive tarred, flat piece of land, and skated up and down until around 20:30. We arrived home, beyond stoked, and exhausted. What a phenomenal weekend. Again, again, again, please?

Stoke Faces!

Adios!