Devon Road Trip October 2020

Meeting in a wet and windy beach car park late on a Friday afternoon, several excited surf club members gathered (socially distanced of course). The howling wind and grey skies had us praying to the surf gods to deliver us some waves. Donning our Dry Robes and wellies, skipping to the beach to see what goods were on offer. There it was, hello 2ft and clean in Devon. Battling the wind and rain to get changed as quickly as possible we headed to the waves. No photographic record exists of this day, we were having too much fun surfing. The only photos we have are of a well earned drink after a marathon 3 hour surf - well done ladies.

Heading off to our various places to stay for the night (thank you covid rules), the princesses in the beach side apartment, the caravan rebels at Ruda and the instructor team glamping it up in 50mph winds - winning.

The weather progressively deteriorated over the weekend, as Storm Alex did his best to ruin the fun. Of course this is when the camera came out and we took our best grey and rainy shots of our awesome members shredding in the storm. There were still plenty of waves to be found on Saturday, some members heading in for 3 surfs over the day, while the instructor team battled the elements to provide surf theory and video analysis.

Surfed out and hungry we headed back to our camps to get ready for the evening entertainment. Technology is a wonderful thing. Despite being seperated into groups of 6 at various locations in Devon, we went ahead with Rosa’s now infamous surf pub quiz. Using our highest tech knowledge and some app on our phones, about one hour later than planned due to technical (knowledge) hitches the nights entertainment began. Ferry was on top form and the weekend theme soon emerged to be unicorns (not sure where that came from). We will let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

Sunday morning, storm Alex is really throwing a wobbly and the beaches are red flagged all along the coast. No fear, a Sunday lay in, followed by coffee shop meet ups in Braunton were in order. In our groups of 6 (of course) we headed to the British Surf Museum and hit the local surf shops for some retail therapy. Some of the group departed home in the afternoon, while the other half headed back to the apartment for a bit of storm watching and got stuck into the classic Blue Crush. 

Despite what felt like everything being against us, we caught some epic waves, had lots of laughs, learnt a few new things and made some new friends. Our now annual Devon Road trip will most definitely happen again, who’s keen for the next one?