Surfing Waves

So, after my trip to Austrailia which comes to a regretful end on the 3rd Jan, at which point I will return to Hong Kong for 6 months, after that its back to sunny englands east coast with little to no swell....ever.

Im looking into using the income from the rent to relocate to the west coast. Reason being is mainly my back! when I first come over to OZ, I went to a Chiropractor and got told I have a degenerative spine, I was scared to surf but did so anyway. It turns out that regular surf is actually helping my pain management, If i dont surf for to long my aches and pains come back!

Extremely upset at the idea of the pain and ability to not do normal things returning, I think a move down to the west side of the country where I can consistently surf is not such a bad idea, with my private rental pulling in some regular income it wont hurt.

So my questions are;

1) Where are the UK's most year round consistent surf spots, the list I have atm, is sennen / newquay / st.ives / pembrokeshire, bear in mind Im still a beginner / intermediate, Cant ride long boards because of my back, so shorty waves a must but dont feel confident to surf shallow reefs (yet)
2) Pref not some dump hole full of chavs and high crime rates
3) Living costs not to high
4) Lots of locally sourced fruits and veg (if possible)

The decision is not set in stone atm, but its one that im seriously debating so any help and input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading,


- Andy

I'm interested in the answer as well. In 6 months time I will leave Taiwan and go back to UK. I live in Cambridge so the nearest coast is miles away, I thought the east coast has small swells like over here. There goes my plan traveling to Cromer every weekend.

I think we both know the answer is to not return to UK!

Bump ^^

Hey Fella,

When I was back in the UK I lived in Bristol its not super close to the coast however has a really good cost of living compared to the east/south east coast and you have access to Wales and the south west in but a 1-2hr drive plus if you shift out a bit further south from Bristol its even cheaper with good transport in and out of Bristol the south west and the rest of the UK.

Unfortunatley normally lving costs on the coast down south are killer because thats where everyone wants to be.

Your other option is Ireland cheap aslong as you arnt living in a big city, may suffer a small amount of abuse for being English or Scotland could be a go and invest in a super thick wetsuit reckon youd have the vast majority of surf available all year round.

In reality though compared to Oz everything is pretty close in England so not much is more than an 2-3hr drive.

How about other countries?:) Have experience with that? I'm looking to move somewhere out of london buzz.

Well I'm enjoing Oz living in Sydney at the mo which is a hell of alot more chilled than London but does have some incredibly crowded lineups. However you can head couple of hours South and enjoy some seriously good surf with only a few out. Cost of living in Sydney is pretty ridiculous but if you've lived in London that wont be any shock at all.

Think if I ever managed to land a working from home style job south NSW would be a go for me.

Another option could be South Europe always thought Portugal would be a good place to be but thats just because its a country I've always enjoyed visiting no idea on the praticality of living there.

Being a english lad myself, I can agree with pommedownunder, sydney is damn expensive, U need to have a good career to live here infact that covers most of Australia..

For cheap, Plymouth is good which is where I live. There are plenty of chavs, but that's the case with most of the SW because it is a known poverty area. Its 20 mins to Wembury, 40 mins to Bigbury/Bantham/Witsand. 1 hr to Bude/Widemouth on the north coast. I bought my house for £110k (2 bed terraced). I think its a brilliant place and also is 15mins from Dartmoor.

Greg