Surfing, coasteering and wild camping – a weekend packed with adventure!
August has been a busy month of travel and adventures around the UK for me, but none of my trips have packed in quite so much ‘adventure’ as my recent trip down to Newquay with Cornish Wave!
When Cornish Wave got in touch to kindly offer me the chance to join one of their surf adventure weekends, my interest was instantly piqued!
I always love to try new things, and outdoor activities are something I’m finding I increasingly enjoy as part of my travel experiences. Having had a little look at the different activities on offer, the ‘surf and coasteer‘ weekend looked to be the one that offered the thrills I was looking for. And with a five hour drive down to Cornwall, the promise of trying something new and exciting had to be worth it right?
Disclaimer: Although my adventure weekend with Cornish Wave was for a PR trip, all experiences and opinions expressed in this blog are unbiased and 100% my own.
Weekends and Away uses affiliate links to products. I may receive a small commission for purchases made through these links, however there is no extra charge to you.
Who are Cornish Wave?
Cornish Wave are a team of adventure enthusiasts, based in one of the UK’s most famous surfing spots, Newquay! From their base in the town, they offer a ton of adventurous activities, coaching and equipment hire, with everything from surf lessons to e-bike hire, helping you squeeze as much fun out of the your time in beautiful Newquay as possible.
One of Cornish Wave’s most unique offerings is their adventure weekends. Heavily focused on spending time in the outdoors and reconnecting with nature, the weekends are perfect for solo travellers or small groups, as your fellow campmates will quickly become friends as you get to know each other through the shared adventures and experiences.
What kind of adventure weekends do they offer?
For all of Cornish Wave’s adventure weekends, their custom built wild camp will become your new home. It’s blissfully remote, totally unplugged and perfectly set up for a relaxed and social weekend.
For your choice of adventure, there are a few options to choose from. The adventures are designed to suit different tastes, so if a full octane weekend of surfing and coasteering isn’t for you, there’s a surf and yoga alternative that will give you a more relaxed weekend retreat.
Whatever you choose to do, it doesn’t matter if you’re a total beginner, because everything is organised, all equipment is provided and you get full briefings before each activity. All you need to do is show up and have fun!
Cornish Wave surf and coasteer adventure weekend itinerary
One of the great things about doing an adventure weekend with Cornish Wave is that you don’t need to worry too much about planning, as the team already have a jam packed itinerary crafted for you! Here’s a little run down of what you can expect to be doing each day…
Day 1: Friday night arrival at wild camp
If you’re joining the trip on Friday night (there’s also the option to join on Saturday morning), you’ll start your adventure in Newquay at the Cornish Wave surf hire shop in town. Once you’re there you’ll get a chance to meet your fellow campers for the weekend as well as the Cornish Wave team who will be with you during all of your activities and also at camp. For the surf and coasteer group that I was in, our main point of contact was Matt, but the whole team were super friendly and there to make the weekend as fun as possible.
Once everyone had arrived at the Cornish Wave shop to meet, we headed in convoy to the wild camp. When they say ‘wild camp’ they’re not kidding – you wouldn’t be able to find this place on a map without being briefed beforehand! It’s in a totally rural location, with a few cows as your closest neighbours.
A top tip would be to only pack the essentials for the weekend too, as once you get to camp you’ll need to transport your gear from the car park to the camp using wheelbarrows, and there are a few hills involved.
Inside the Cornish Wave wild camp
I was actually blown away by the camp! The whole area has been beautifully designed and thought out to create a truly off-grid escape. Think open water swimming, wild flowers and campfires, and you’ll get a pretty good picture of what the vibe is!
When I was driving down to Cornwall at 3am earlier that day, I didn’t think I’d be jumping into a lake with some people I’d just met that same evening, but wow, did it feel so refreshing. It was exactly the wake up for the senses I needed and a fantastic taste of the adventures yet to come.
As for where you sleep at the wild camp, there are some lovely bell tents that are set up on the flat grassy area. The tents are fairly basic, but nice and spacious. You’ll get an airbed and blanket, but it’s worth packing an extra blanket and pillow to make sure you’re comfy and warm enough during the night.
The first night at camp is also pizza night! Before heading to camp you’ll have a bit of time to pop into the Sainsbury’s in Newquay and pick up a pizza to cook in the woodfire pizza oven at camp. It’s a great way to settle in and get to know everyone in the communal kitchen area, plus you get to enjoy your wood-fired pizza and any other snacks or drinks you’ve brought along!
Day 2: Saturday – Surfing, coasteering and BBQ
Saturday morning starts with a simple, but nutritious breakfast to get you fuelled up for an action packed day. After getting your fill of coffee, granola, pastries and bananas, it’s time to pack up your gear for the day and head back to the surf shop in Newquay.
At the surf shop we got fitted out with our wetsuits and rash vests ready for our first surfing briefing and session. There are plenty of wetsuits so if the first one you try doesn’t fit quite right, just ask for a different size and the Cornish Wave team will sort you out!
AM: Surf intro and session
Wetsuits on and boards at the ready, we headed down to the beach for a briefing before hitting the waves. I haven’t surfed since I was a kid (longer ago than I care to admit!) and even then I’m pretty sure I’d just done some tame bodyboarding, so this was a fairly new experience for me.
Matt and the other surf instructors gave us a full intro though, which helped everyone get to grips with the basics. It was great to have this time to practice on dry land beforehand and I definitely felt that our safety as a group wouldn’t be compromised at any point.
Whilst it was definitely physically demanding, surfing was a lot of fun – even if I did manage to take a full whack to the face with my own surfboard! Whilst you’re out on the water, the Cornish Wave coaches are with you too and they did a great job of not only making sure everyone was safe in the water (it was a pretty choppy day!), but also encouraging everyone to push out of their comfort zones when it came to getting up on the board.
PM: Coasteering
After a bit of free time to grab lunch in town, it was then time to get suited up again for the second activity of the day – coasteering. it happened to be Boardmasters festival the weekend I was there too, so we were able to see some of the pro surfers and take a look around the food and craft stalls around Fistral Beach.
I’d not really heard much about coasteering before this weekend, let alone tried it, so this was another totally new activity for me!
Coasteering is essentially when you traverse a rocky coastline without the aid of a boat or any other kind of craft. You climb, swim, jump across tides, rocks, cliffs and gullies to get from one part of the coastline to another. It’s another physically demanding activity, and you’ll definitely get an adrenaline kick from this one!
Jumping off of rocks into the crashing waves below doesn’t lend itself well to carrying a camera with you unfortunately, and with my GoPro deciding to die before I even made it onto the rocks, I have an annoying lack of photos from coasteering. What I can do however is tell you that I absolutely LOVED it!
It was tiring, it was intense, at some points it was scary, but above all else it was SO fun – I’m totally sold on coasteering. And just like with surfing, you’re provided with all the gear (minus shoes – wear trainers you don’t mind getting wet!), a full safety briefing and guidance from the Cornish Wave team throughout. It was great to have them there to encourage everyone to get out of their comfort zone – 10 metre jump into the water? Completed it!
PM: BBQ and camp games
Safe to say, after a very active day everyone was pretty hungry! Luckily there’s a BBQ at camp and the second night of the adventure weekend is a big communal BBQ night! Like the previous night, we stocked up on BBQ supplies at the Sainsbury’s in Newquay before heading back to camp. If you’re looking at the picture and thinking, “wow, did she really put away three burgers?!”, the answer is no. I put away four…
Again, this was another great bonding opportunity and a chance to catch up with the campmates who’d been on the yoga retreat instead of coasteering. It was great being able to share experiences with such a diverse group of people, from Austrians to Australians! Sharing smores around the campfire and getting stuck into some axe throwing and other games was a great end to an action packed day.
Day 3: Sunday – Surfing and farewell
Sunday was our final day of the adventure weekend. After grabbing breakfast it was time to pack up our things and say goodbye to the lovely wild camp that really did feel homely!
We then headed back to the Cornish Wave HQ in Newquay for the second surfing session of the weekend.
Getting ready to go was a little quicker this time as we all knew out wetsuit sizes and had been through the main safety points the day before. The weather was a little calmer on the Sunday too, so the second session promised a good opportunity to improve on the techniques we’d already learned.
Whilst I’ve established that surfing probably isn’t my sport, as I only managed to get on the board a few times without spectacularly crashing back into the water, it’s safe to say my fellow adventurers were absolutely smashing it by the end of the weekend!
Cornish Wave adventure weekend review – would I do it again?
The short answer is, absolutely! I was really impressed with the whole weekend, from the stunning setup of the wild camp, to the knowledge and professionalism of the team during all of the activities, but most of all how well the whole weekend flowed. There was definitely no time to be bored and whether you’re travelling alone or as a small group, I think the adventure weekend provides a fantastic experience for meeting fun like-minded people!
The only thing I would do differently next time would be to perhaps try some of the other activities on offer, such as the yoga for a more relaxed weekend option. That being said, this definitely won’t be the last time I give coasteering a try!
Things to know before you go
- Wild camp is exactly what it says on the tin – there’s nowhere to plug your phone in, so be prepared to bring a power bank or unplug for the weekend!
- The loos are compost toilets, which were perfectly fine, but don’t always smell the freshest.
- Packing light, comfy layers should give you enough options to stay, warm, dry or cool depending on what the weather decides to do!
How to book a surf adventure weekend with Cornish Wave
Booking an adventure weekend with Cornish Wave is easy to do directly on their website here.
The adventure weekends are also great for private groups such as stag or hen parties, or even for a family break. Find out more here.
Pin this post!
I love Cornwall and hoping to return soon. The BBQ food looks amazing 🙂