Spring Adventures Part One - Beautiful Bude

Spring was rolling in, and that meant a week off at the start of March. Me & James always try to take our holidays roughly the same time each year, with two weeks in October, ten days in late February/early March and a week in June. It makes it easier to plan, and means we've always got something to look forward to! 

We decided to this time head down to Devon & Cornwall, places we've always enjoyed going in the summer, but this time in the spring to see what else we could find. Now, I'll just get my mandatory complaining about how long it takes to get anywhere out the way and then I won't mention it again. 

It took forever to drive there. And I mean that, it felt like weeks had passed before we arrived. Perhaps I'm just not a very patient traveller. That's probably more to do with it. The four and a half hours (complete with snack & stretch break) were an eternity, but then we arrived in Bude. That meant the holiday had really begun! 

We had a nice little wander around Bude, it's a small place but theres a nice selection of different local & tat shops, as well as being home to one of the tourism wonders of the world, the Bude Tunnel! 

At one point, this was the most famous & popular site to visit in all of England, and even rivalled The Tower of London, British Museum and Stonehenge in terms of visitor numbers. Of course I'm joking, but at one point this tunnel really did make headlines nationwide. For some reason people were leaving tripadvisor reviews for it, and it briefly became the town's most acclaimed attraction for reasons unknown. But it's worth to stop and take a picture of it, just so you can show your friends you really did visit the Bude Tunnel! Or should it be the Tunnel of Bude? That sounds fancier.

After a little explore of the town, we grabbed some shopping from the big supermarket by the tunnel and dropped it back where we were staying. Thats the great thing with being on holiday both in your own country and with a car. You can buy whatever you like and however much you like! We'd stocked up on some dinner bits ready for later.

But first, it was time to enjoy the beach, which as you can see, was sublime. Perfectly soft sand, calm waters and beautifully reflective atmosphere. This was divine!

It's always too cold to be in the water, but I had my army boots on and had a grand old time walking along the sand, looking for pretty shells, stones and (hopefully) pieces of gold. Disappointingly I discovered none, but I did find a nice looking shell to take home and put on the shelf.

This was one of the best pictures I think I've ever taken, I crouched down as low as my back would allow me, and managed to snap this in one go. I love the contrast of the blue's & grey's of the sky with the darker colours of the rocks, with the occasional glimpse of the perfectly still water, and the rocks at the front being slightly out of focus. It's beautiful, and one I feel like I need to put up on a wall somewhere for everyone to see. Perhaps in the hallway?

And here's one final view of the beach, this time from higher up as we headed back to the accommodation for the night. The sun was just setting, there was few people about, and it was really rather blissful. What else can you want from the first day of a holiday?

Life is often most enjoyable when you appreciate the smaller things. Walking on the beach with James, not saying a lot but enjoying each other's company while surrounded by peace and beauty is a really underrated feeling. I urge you to try it for yourselves one day!

I also want to just post here about our accommodation. We stayed at Rockpool (@rockpool-bude.co.uk) and it was honestly fantastic. It was like a home from home, comfortable, clean and well stocked, and with a shower that was a dream to be in. People often think of self catering accommodation options as undesirable. I love them, it's your space to do as you like in, whether you want to cook, hang out or relax, it's more spacious and nicer than a hotel room, and is often a more affordable option when you take into account food costs in restaurants. It's well worth thinking about, and in Bude there's nowhere better than Rockpool. It even had parking and a place to hang up towels & surf boards to dry. Not that I did any of that, I've got a dodgy enough back as it is!