Kayaking on Helford River & Dinner at Rick Stein’s Fish

I finally got to kayak on Frenchman’s Creek and Helford river!

This has been on my Cornish bucket list for a while, so I was super excited to be offered the chance to do it as part of the #WelcomeToEngland campaign alongside Nina (Reisehappen) and Adeline (Voyagesetc).

The girls were staying at the Budock Vean Hotel, situated near Mawnan Smith, which has its own slipway onto Helford river. We met Hetty, from Koru Kayaking (who also do guided kayak tours on the North coast at St. Agnes) down at the water’s edge, and she talked us through where we’d be paddling to whilst we got ready.

It was a beautiful sunny morning, but was actually a lot more windy than I first anticipated. Hetty went ahead with Adeline and told us all about the history of the area, whilst Nina and I paddled along behind. We were also joined by Roger in the Helford River Cruise boat, to help the French TV crew girls get the best shot of Adeline on her Cornish adventure.

In fact, the boat turned out pretty handy! Once we got out into the middle of the river, Nina and I were really struggling in the crosswinds, and after 20 minutes battling against the waves and not getting anywhere, Roger offered us a lift in the boat up to Frenchman’s Creek. Yes, we cheated – but it was lovely to get a view from the river from the boat too!

Once out of the wind in the sheltered creek, we got back into the kayaks and joined Hetty again, who showed us around the Lizard side of the river. It was so still and beautiful in the sun!

Sadly as we started our paddle back to Budock Vean the sun went in, and we suddenly got VERY cold. Should have guessed seeing as it really was only mid-March, but by the time we reached the shore our feet were so numb we really struggled to walk and get changed – pathetic I know!

Despite this, we had a great trip, and I’m so happy I’ve completed this off my Cornish bucket list! I can’t wait to do it again on a warmer (less windy!) day in Summer.

I filmed our trip on the GoPro, so check out the YouTube video below and don’t forget to subscribe too:

For the rest of the day, I took the girls around Falmouth to explore. The rain and wind kept up though, so we spent a lot of the day in cafes and pubs keeping warm with hot chocolates, but no matter!

That evening, we went to Rick Stein’s Fish for dinner. I’d never been before but it’s pretty well known here in Cornwall, so I thought I’d give Nina and Adeline a taste of fresh Cornish fish!

I loved the decor and atmosphere in there, and I can imagine it’s a great place to hang out in Summer when there are events on the harbour square just outside.

The food was great too; Nina and I both had the seafood platter while Adeline had the thai curry – and of course we followed up with dessert too (the raspberry sorbet that came with my brownie was the BOMB, by the way!).

See what we got up to on Day 1, exploring the South West Coast path, and keep an eye out for day 3’s post coming soon!

Have you ever been kayaking in Cornwall? Is it on your bucket list?

This post was brought to you as a result of the #WelcomeToEngland campaign, created and managed by iambassador in partnership with Visit Britain. As always, The Cornish Life retains all editorial control of what is published.