Newquay Night Surf 2017

I've been going to watch the night surf since it was held at Lusty Glaze beach in Cornwall and this years event was not to be missed.
This year the night surf was held as it has been for the past few years at Fistral beach in Newquay. The idea of night surfing is soo cool but this event is strictly for the competitors entering the competition.

Waves rolling in at the Night Surf 2017 Fistral beach

Sun Setting at the Night Surf 2017 Fistral beach

The beach is full of spectators all waiting for the sun to go down and the floodlights to go up with an evening of watching some really good surfers showing us how it's done.

Watching the sun set at the Firstral Night Surf 2017

The beach was crowded and we met some friends and family and enjoyed a beer and let the evening unfold.

The best bit of the night surf as always is the Fireworks!
There really is nothing better than watching fireworks explode into bright colours over the sea watching the reflections in the water glow in different colours.

Fireworks off the headland at the Fistral Night Surf 2017

Watch the Fireworks off the headland at the Fistral Night Surf 2017

See you on the beach
Mandi x x x x

Caerhays Castle Coastal Walk In Cornwall

When was the last time you woke up on a Saturday morning with nothing to do?
We, like many couples live rather hectic lives with a whole host of activities that keep me and my fiance busy, renovating our house, planning a wedding, training for half marathons and both working full time. All this means we are very rarely able to spend time together, but sometimes you just have to take some time to be a couple and especially when living in Cornwall enjoy the county that we work so hard to live in.

With a few hours to spare we decided to explore some of the south coast of Cornwall and picked a place name that we had never heard of before and headed to Portholland.

What a beautiful place! Why had we never been here before??? It's so easy, when you don't get much time off to head straight to the classic tourist destinations when you get the opportunity to get out and enjoy the area. For us this usually means a trip to Falmouth, Padstow or St Ives.
But during the summer months most of these popular towns are swarming with people and they feel more like London's Piccadilly circus than quiet quaint Cornwall.

Portholland Beach Cornwall

 

 

 

Cool little lizardy newt chap on a bench on our walk

 

Picking place names off a map that we haven't heard of usually suggests that the location isn't that popular and well know and will hopefully not be too busy! When we arrived and parked the car on the front we were stunned with how beautiful the little beach was. There is barley anything in this little village, a small post office and cafe in one property and a few holiday lets but other than this the little cove was unspoilt.

We took a walk across the beach and decided as it was such a lovely day that we would head on up to the coast path and walked to Caerhays Beach and back. There was a gorgeous little cafe here overlooking the beach and stopped for a bite of lunch before walking back along the coast path back to the car.

 

 

 

It's only a short walk across coast path and fields, and although it is steep in some places it wasn't too far and made a really pleasant couple of hours out of the house.

Panda Tattoo

What better way to start a day than sitting in the tattooist for 2 hours being drawn on! 

Getting a new tattoo is a big deal, obviously, it's permanent but I take forever to choose a new idea and wait for months and months to make sure I am 100% happy with my latest ink. 

I LOVE pandas and have seen them in Scotland and Vienna and Even London Zoo many years ago and it seemed the obvious choice to get a Panda Tattoo but it has been impossible to chose 'The One' I didn't want a realistic panda as that is just not my style. I equally didn't want a childlike cartoony panda either but I still wanted a panda. 

On an evening scrolling through Pinterest I came across this sugar scull panda and instantly fell in love. We tweaked the design to make the glasses more like my own and changed a few little areas to make him more personal to myself but I was soon in love and ready to take the plunge.

I booked myself in at La Famillia in Newquay a tattooist I had previously used for a tattoo on my wrist and I couldn't be happier.
Tattoo's are most definitely addictive and I'm already thinking about what are where to get inked next.

Man nearly swept into the sea in Newquay storm swell

Today, like many other days when a large swell is forecast I've headed down to the local beach to photograph the crazy power of the ocean. 

The difference today is that this huge storm swell has come into Cornwall during the middle of the six weeks summer holidays. Usually to get waves of this size would be during a winter storm and certainly when there are a lot less tourists about. 

Sadly when the storm began to arrive last night a family were swept out to sea at Fistral beach. The RNLI did a fantastic job and managed to rescue the family but tragically the father of the family didn't make it and died. This has left the whole of town in shock and has really shook up a lot of people. 

I go in the sea on a very regular basis and although I often go in the water with friends or family and often whilst lifeguards are on duty I occasionally get frightened by the odd wave. If a wave is bigger than I am comfortable riding or a wave holds me under for slightly longer for those brief few seconds my stomach turns and i'm reminded how dangerous the sea can be. Maybe i'm a bit too safe and don't push my surfing enough but it's days like today when you hear about another death due to the sea and realise you can never be too careful. 

My thoughts are with the family of the man that lost his life, it really is just awful news. 

Yet this evening I witnessed many people just getting that bit too close to the sea when it was huge and dangerous. 

I witnessed a man travel down the stairs to rescue a dog from the water. Within seconds of the man grabbing the dog by the scruff of the neck the next wave had come over the top of them. Another man had ventured down to help the first man and suddenly both men and the dog were hidden under a huge crashing wave. 

Luckily the two men and the dog made it back up the stairs and away from danger but this could have been so different so quickly. 

Please if you go in the sea make sure you respect the water. Make sure you swim at a lifeguarded beach and learn about the tides and swell before going in. If in doubt speak to the lifeguards and ask the locals for advice.