Surfing Break in Bournemouth
If you fancy doing something a little different next weekend, why not head down to Bournemouth and learn to surf?
You can either just head down for the day which leaves your Sunday free to recover from the muscle aches, or you can stay the night in a local B&B or hotel.
Coaches from London leaves from 7am onward which would get you in to Bournemouth coach station by 9:40am providing you don’t get stuck in any traffic, which makes for a tight lesson start at 10am. The National Express coach is approx. £13 for the return journey but this could be the better option if you are staying the weekend. You do have the option of the train which when booked in advance is £28 per person and less if you have a rail card. To start for the morning lesson, I would certainly recommend taking the 6:30am train which arrives into Bournemouth at 8:43am.
A 10 minute walk from the train station, located on the beach front near Boscombe Pier is Surfsteps, owned by Kiwi instructor Andy Joyce. Running since 2005, this small surfing school is the closest Surf GB Centre of Excellence to London and with daily morning and afternoon lessons, is the perfect place to learn to surf.
Lessons last 2-3 hours and cost £35 per person in a group lesson for beginners. All equipment is included in the lesson cost, including your wetsuit. Morning lessons start at 10am so taking the coach leaves you very little time to get there so the train would be best. There is also a lesson in the afternoon if you wanted to stay.
Where to stay in Bournemouth
There are a number of hotels in the Bournemouth area, however, as many are B&Bs, I found that there was often a minimum of 2 or 3 nights stay required. Our pick is actually the Bournemouth Travelodge (which is located between the train/coach station and the surf school), not to be confused with the Travelodge Bournemouth Seafront which is further in the other direction.
If you’re driving to Bournemouth and decide to stay at the Travelodge, 24 hour parking is £3 per day. One night at the Bournemouth Travelodge starts at £76.15 for one person on a Saturday night including breakfast so if you are on a budget, I would recommend doing a daytrip to Bournemouth instead, especially if you can afford the afternoon surf lesson as well. Every Sunday, they also offer their 2pm lessons at a discounted rate of £25 per person which is a great option if you are trying to bring the cost down. Just remember that you’ll ache the next day at work!
So if you are doing the Sunday trip, that’s two surfing lessons plus train travel from London to Bournemouth for less than £100 per person. Okay, so that’s probably a bit more than you were hoping to spend on your weekend but think of it this way, if you were to go on a night out, especially in London, you’ll no doubt spend a good portion of that. And what’s more impressive on a Monday morning, telling everyone how wasted you got on the weekend or that you spent your Sunday surfing?
