Kayaking the North Coast with Newquay Activity Centre

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to trial Newquay Activity Centre’s new kayaking sessions!

As you’ve possibly realised, I love kayaking; it’s one of my favourite activities and yet I really don’t get out to do it often enough – mainly because of the weather but also not always being sure of the best places to go.

The day after I got back from my trip to Portugal, I got an email asking if I’d be keen to go on a kayaking tour with Newquay Activity Centre the next day. Based just above Fistral beach, NAC are well known for their range of surf lessons & packages, and their Stand Up Paddleboarding (and Super SUP!) experiences, but they also offer days out Coasteering (definitely on my list to try!), bodyboarding and lifeguard/activity training.

However they’re about to start also offering kayaking tours on the coast around Newquay too, which is super exciting if you’re heading down to Cornwall next Spring/Summer! Actually, I say that but they are in fact open 7 days a week, 360+ days a year (including Christmas eve), so you could be kayaking whatever the weather…

Anyway, after a safety briefing, our instructor took us down to the bay on Towan Headland (opposite Little Fistral) and we all got into our kayaks. The conditions were absolutely perfect (hence the last minute invite!); a warm September day with no wind and a totally flat ocean – pretty rare for the North coast!

After talking us through some strokes and getting us warmed up with a few games and races, we were lead along the coast to view the cliffs and old smugglers caves; even getting out of the kayaks to walk in pitch black darkness through one of them! Our instructor told us that at high tide, they take the coasteering groups swimming through there… which sounds extremely scary but also epic at the same time.

It was lovely to have a paddle around this bit of the coast that I’ve never seen from this perspective before, and on such a beautiful day I couldn’t imagine a nicer activity to be doing.

Head over to the Newquay Activity Centre website to find out more about the activities and experiences they’re offering all year round!

* I was able to go on this tour for free as a taster, but all opinions are my own!