Bank Holiday Monday

It was a traditional British Bank Holiday Monday so of course it must have been raining. We went off to Newport beach regardless...

It rained...

...it was too crowded...

...the water was cold and filthy...

...we didn't have any fun at all...

Okay, so I jest. It was pretty darned gorgeous. Perfect waves for body boarding and wall to wall sunshine but with a brisk onshore breeze to stop it being too warm. And it was packed. There was standing room only in the car parks and the cars on the beach were three rows deep. Everyone was good natured and having a nice time. Yes there was one person who abused the right to park on the beach by driving too fast and being aggressive (we were blocking the way through with the tailgate of my 4x4 so she had to demonstrate her annoyance, even though I apologised profusely. Poor thing probably lives in a city...) There's always one.

People were pulling on wetsuits and bikinis (the tougher types) and leaping into the waves clutching children, body boards, dogs (not banned on this beach - so long as you scoop the poop), sea kayaks, speed boats, water bikes. Others set up camp around their cars and lit barbecues, played cricket, football and boules. Some escaped the car area and headed off into to bake in the soft sand under the dunes. A few sat in their greenhouse-like cars and watched this colourful spectacle.

This is Newport beach and it's huge (which is why the Welsh call it Traeth Mawr - big beach). There's plenty of room, lifeguards, a shop and you can park on the beach which the National Park Authority doesn't like but is a huge bonus for people with kids and body boards and all of the other things it's nice to take to the beach (like a table and chairs, teepee, picnic blanket, buckets and spades, kites, boules etc).

This is the beach the Guardian called the 'new Rock' though not having been to Rock I can't say whether that is correct or not. I expect Rock is packed like the rest of Cornwall, so perhaps Newport beats it on space and the fact that you can have bits of it to yourself even on a rare sunny August Bank Holiday Monday. It's got a Blue Flag now too... Hang on I'm making it sound far too nice! It's awful! Never visit - because it's mine, all mine...