This isn’t the first time I have been to Perranporth, but it is the first time I have been there with my dog. In fact, although this was his second time visiting a beach, it was his first time going into the sea, and what a treat it was.
My partner and I decided a few weeks ago that we needed some time away. We hadn’t planned anything all year due to waiting for confirmation on my final op (which has finally been confirmed, so it’s a good thing we did), and after visiting the year before, it seemed like the perfect plan. This was made all the better when we researched about the beach and what the rules were for dog owners. From the 1st of September, dogs were allowed off the lead, to roam free – and we were heading down on the 2nd (somewhat delayed as we went to Friends Fest first).
We left our home around 4pm to take a 2 and a half hour journey down to Perranporth and although it sounds like a long journey to make in a car, it actually wasn’t all that bad and luck was on our side in terms of traffic.
We arrived at a cute little caravan, that we had booked on AirBnB, just before 7pm and began to unpack. The view was stunning and we were only a 10-15 minute walk from the sea/beach, both of which could be seen from our main window.
After unpacking, showering and getting into our comfy clothes, we cracked open the wine and grabbed the cheese and crackers, both of which were much needed after the journey, and we planned our adventure for the following day, which mainly consisted of going to the beach and having a few glasses at The Watering Hole, which is a pub/restaurant on the beach. So with that we finished the good food and wine, and headed to bed for an early start.
For me, staying anywhere new is always a bit of a scary process, mainly because I worry too much about not having everything I need for my stoma care at my fingertips, but also because it’s majorly out of my comfort zone, so with that, my first night was a bit of a long-sleepless one, but I didn’t let that ruin anything.
Morning broke and I was up and ready to get cracking with the day ahead. In my eagerness I took Lincoln (our dog) for a morning stroll, even before heading off for our adventure.
We got back, had some breakfast, packed everything into a rucksack and began our journey into town. We could see that Link (what we call him most of the time) was getting excited as we were getting closer to the beach, so we had a quick window shop through the high-street to allow him to calm down a smidge before heading directly through to the beach.
We stepped foot on the beach and watched his face light up. We removed his lead and he was off. This is normal for us to see, as when he gets excited, he runs around in a big circle before returning to us, but to anyone else he must have looked crazy. We begin small, finding little (which were actually quite big) pools of water for him to play around in, not really expecting him to like it, but he loved it. We’d throw the ball into the deepest part of any of the pools of water, and he’d be straight in there after it. This went on for a few hours before we decided to go to The Watering Hole to have a coffee in order to warm up (it’s very cold due to the weather no being that forgiving).
We have our coffee outside and admire the view, even though it starts spitting. This goes on for a good 15 minutes before we decide to make our way inside to keep warm, and it’s a good thing we did as it began raining shortly after we moved.
The rain kept gracing us with its presence so we decided we would remain for a few hours and in the process, would order some lunch. Lynsey had something called Chicken Creole, wehereas I went all out and tried their burger with the addition of some bacon. The food was incredible and so filling (I couldn’t finish it all).
Once we had finished food, and a few more beers, it was well into the afternoon, so we decided to have another go on the beach, and in the various pools. This time the tide had gone quite far out, so we had a little look in all the caves and areas in-between the rocks. We found ourselves eventually circling back on ourselves so called it a day and headed up through the town to look in a few shops – where we found a shop that sold doggy ice cream and we just had to get some for Lincoln to try.
Once we had finished it was time to head back as the rain was making an appearance again, and we made it back just before it started to chuck it down. Comfy clothes were applied, alcohol was consumed and we settled on the sofa with the duvets.
A few hours passed and the rain began to pass, leaving behind the sun and eventually making the day air warm again. With that, we decided to go back into town for food. We packed a bag and took the short walk down the hill.
Upon arriving, we had a look at the menu for one restaurant but decided we would need to work up more of an appetite and therefore went for a little walk on the beach and ended up looking through all the caves and little rock pools, and even watched the sun go down (which was breath-taking).
We had already eaten in a restaurant for lunch so we thought that we would have a bit of a treat and walked down to the Chinese takeaway, where we met a lovely lady behind the desk, that was infatuated with Link. It was quite lovely to watch.
After we received our food, we took the short walk back up to where we were staying and decided we would not be heading out again that day so therefore called it a night.
The next day was a different story in terms of weather; it was due to be sunny all day and they weren’t wrong. I opened the curtains and the sun was shining, with no clouds in sight. With this we get excited, have a little breakfast, pack the bag and walk down the hill into town. This time it’s much less windy, but still would be too much for me to fly my drone.
After 10 minutes of walking we arrive at the edge of the beach and decide to let the pooch off the lead and start throwing the ball into the pools of water that were left behind by the tide being out. The best part about this, was seeing the smile on his face while he was having fun.
This went on for an hour or two before the tide started to come in again, so we decided to spend a bit of time in The Watering Hole again, and managed to get the same table as before, where we had a view of outside. We sat down and had a few drinks before deciding to order some food. This time we both chose to have fish & chips, and it was the best decision by far. Hands down, the best fish & chips I have ever eaten.
After finishing our lovely food we had another drink and sat there for a bit longer just to let it all go down. Once enough time had passed, it was back to the beach for some more fun in the water.
At this point the tide had gone back out and we could walk through the various caves and pools to get to different parts of the beach and had a little adventure as we made our way to one end of the beach. We were throwing the ball into the sea for Link, which was made all the more fun due to it moving with the waves and him having to find it again each time a wave took it.
Eventually I got into the water with him (only as high as my thighs), and it allowed us to go out further and jump over the waves as they came in to pass us. I ended up getting quite wet so only did this for 30 minutes or so before coming out to walk around and dry off.
We popped in a few shops, bought a couple of books to read back at our accommodation and after we were happy that we had spent enough time in town and at the beach, we both agreed that going back to rest would be the best idea, especially considering we were bothy aching from the fact that on both of the days we had walked a total of 8 miles (16 for both).
We had a television at our place, so we decided to grab the duvets and watch the great british bake-off, while nibbling on some food. Once this was over, it wasn’t long before we hit the hay, ready for our last morning.
After recharging our batteries, we were ready for our final morning, although still aching. It was agreed that we would pack the car and drive into town so that we wouldn’t need to rush to do anything and therefore, around 7:30am, we begin the process of packing everything in order for us to get to the beach early. It didn’t take long for us to pack everything and we were heading in around an hour later.
This time there was no wind and therefore I could finally fly the drone, even if it was only 20 minutes, so without further introduction, enjoy some of the footage.
After flying the drone, we went to The Watering Hole for one final time and just had to try one of their breakfasts, which was extremely delicious. I also had to wash it down with an amazing hot chocolate.
Once breakfast was over we only had 45 minutes before our parking ticket would run out and therefore we decided we would only let Lincoln play in the water for another 15 minutes before heading back to the car to dry off and eventually take the 2 and a half hour drive back home.
Overall, we loved our mini holiday and really fell in love with Perranporth. We plan to make regular trips back, so there may be more posts on this in the future.
Thank you for reading!