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| Constantine Beach, Cornwall |
We went near Padstow and camped at a big, very clean campsite, Atlantic Bays and after visiting most of the beaches and small coves we settled on Constantine Bay as our base for the week.
What a beautiful beach! Wide open sandy expanse with sandy dunes for the children to explore and the best waves we have seen. Patrolled by the RNLI it is the perfect beach for body boarding.
Armed with a body board each we had such a funny time although you do have to check the tides as at low tide it takes ages to walk to the water!
We were thankful for our wetsuits as it enabled us to stay in the water longer, even though it was August and Sunny the wind seems to constantly blow there. Most days the water temperature was 15°C so it is worthwhile getting a wetsuit. The children wore shortie wetsuits, one from O'Neill and one tested our new brand TWF.
Both were kept really warm although we saw lots of children wearing long wetsuits so the choice is personal. I imagine the long wetsuit will protect the knees from the sand as you fly into land but it wasn't too much of a problem.
We used the TWF slick back body boards and the super smooth base really made a difference and found all of us moved fast on top of the waves.
Amelie and sam are 10 and 12 respectively and both used a 37" board and us Adults used 42" which was ideal.
So to summarise my suggested packing list and what I will get for next year:
- Shortie wetsuit
- Kids UV rash vest, worn underneath and during breaks the wetsuit can be undone, as quite warm, and the skin is still protected.
- Consider a boys long sleeved uv top or the Animal Girls Pefto Long Sleeved Rash Top under a shortie wetsuit for extra sun protection
- Children's Beach shoes - easy to run over stones, seaweed and good grip while exploring rock pools
- Wide brimmed or baseball cap style hat
- Beach mats - perfect layer under towels to stop sand sticking to towels
- Beach towels and Kids Beach Towelling Ponchos
- Wind break - so windy in Cornwall but best waves ever!
- Picnic rucksack - was perfect, a roomy cool bag section for sandwiches and drinks, a small front pocket for essentials like wet wipes and comes with all the cutlery, plates and wine glasses!
- Wet wipes
- Sun tan lotion - try Life Systems with Anti-Jellyfish sting formulation
- Kids sunglasses
- Roomy beach bags
What I wish I took:
- Neoprene gloves - my hands got cold way before the rest of my body
- Thermos flasks for warm tea post body boarding
- Body board rucksack bags - the long walk back to the car park in strong winds when the children were tired was a little testing...
- Children's Snorkel Masks and Kids Fins, the sea is so crystal clear especially in some of the smaller bays it would have been perfect. The local stores are so expensive!
So after this holiday, I have fallen in love with Cornwall. I thought I would find anywhere better than my beloved West Wittering and can believe at the age of 43 I haven't been there before. Constantine Beach and the beautiful beaches around will be a future fixture on future summer holiday breaks.
Tess Bradshaw - owner of Little Surfers - for all your family beach holiday needs, with helpful information pages to help with your packing and also to ensure your beach holiday is safe
Little Surfers
August 2015
