North Devon - The West Coast

Despite catching some bug on Friday, Anya and I ventured out to the coast in North Devon last weekend. Having stoked up the desire to surf more while in Ireland, I decided to buy a board on eBay.

This may strike you as an impracticality, given the fact that I live in London and have no car. However, as I've explained to my very patient and loving wife, I've discovered the London Surf Club and am assured I'll have access to plenty of surf road trips with other members who have wheels.

The view from our room

 Anyway, having found my stick (as the surfer dudes say), we headed to west England to pick it up and have a weekend away from the city.

Along the way, we noticed that camper vans are very popular in the area (probably all the surfers), and in England in general, and we saw a lot of restored VW buses. I've decided I must have one.

Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But someday I envision Anya and I rolling in an old school VW bus, camping and surfing.

We found a nice B&B in the town of Ilfracombe with a view of some headlands to one side and a little harbor to the other.

(Side note - the photos aren't up to snuff, as I never bothered to use anything by my mobile phone camera for some reason...)

The harbor was interesting - built on a tidal flat, all the boats had 3 keels so that they'd remain level when the tide receded. I'd think this would be hard on the boats, but I guess not.

Ain't no leavin' till the tide comes in

 The waves were a bit pathetic, but the beaches were beautiful. All in all, a good time was had by all.

Devon is very nice. I could live there, I think.

...in fact, here's a little restaurant for sale right on the main historic street. Any takers?

Road trip!