More Newquay

The next day was dark and rainy, so cycling was out of the question. It turns out that Newquay is the surfing capital of England and there were dozens of surf shops. Despite our concerns about cold water and cold weather we decided to have a go.

We rented body boards, wetsuits, hoods, booties, gloves, and fins and headed right down to Great Western Beach, literally a few minutes from our guest house. We were pleased to find ourselves in the water and plenty warm. There were several surfers out with us, so we figured we were in a good place. The waves were just right for us and we had a total blast. At one point it started raining pretty hard, but we didn't care! After a couple of hours though we were totally knackered (love that word) and totally stoked.

The next day was Mary's big birthday and she was more than happy to give body boarding another go, so we headed out to the "premier" surf beach, Fistral.
Again the cold water (50 degrees F) was no problem with our full wetsuits.
The waves were better than at Great Western and there were many more surfers, body boarders, and kayakers. I got many great rides and the weather was much better. What fun!

We headed back to the guest house for some rest then headed back to Fistral for dinner at the Fistral Blu. Along the way we stopped at the quaint harbor.
Fistral Blu was a bit crowded and the inefficient waitstaff was overwhelmed, and the food was mediocre. The views, however, were memorable.

We had a great day on Mary's 50th!