Surf and Yoga in Cornwall
Take me back to last weekend. Beautiful views of Cornwall, a 5* apartment by a small lake in the middle of nowhere, surf, yoga and stand up paddle lessons, a spa with swimming pool, wave machine, sauna and steam room, a beautiful beach a short drive away and some of the most amazing food ever.
This could be you on your next holiday, coupled with surfing and yoga classes. Talk about absolute bliss, zen and every other peaceful word that comes to mind. To think that this amazing place exists on a 4 and a half hour train ride away from London makes me wonder why I hadn’t explored it before.
The lovely guys at Alibi Health Drink invited us down to one of Ride On Retreats' resorts to experience a weekend of fun, exercise and good food which has our name ALL over it.
We got there and were shown to our rooms. Well, I thought it was going to be a room. Instead I was welcomed to a 1 bed apartment with a balcony overlooking a small lake- with a bath tub and a shower!
No time for admiration, straight into our wet suits we went ready for some body boarding and hilarious attempts at stand up surfing on the Flow Rider. The waves created on this machine are so strong. I made the mistake of stepping straight into it. Before I knew it I was whipped off of my feet and taken straight to the top by the wave.
We got on our body boards and literally leapt down the flow rider holding onto our boards. I flipped around, did tricks and basically felt like a fish riding a wave. It was so much fun. If I ever get rich one day I will be buying a flowrider for my back yard, they are awesome.
Our next challenge was to try and stand up on smaller boards. I lasted about 3 seconds before *flip* I was washed away again. Not that it put me off- I got the water out of my ears and was back up on it again! I wanted more but time was up. Off to the spa we went.
After sweating it out in the sauna we got ready for an outdoor yoga session. We were outdoors with a view of a lake. A swan came along to peep at us, they clearly wanted in. Such a beautiful setting, who wouldn’t want to get involved in our downward dogs and head stands.
The class was split with the first half being dynamic flow yoga and the second half being yin yoga. Yin yoga isn’t what I’m used to. I’m a vinyasa flow regular so the calm of yin yoga where the poses are very relaxed gave me the new challenge of clearing my head of thoughts. Meditation was key but the quietness of the lake helped perfectly.
Post yoga brought on the feeling of zen and chilled out-ness coupled with a hungry tummy. Perfect timing to check out the Retallack resort restaurant, The Green Room, head chefed up by past master chef 2008 winner James Nathan.
My starter was wood pidgeon with red cabbage, spinach and black truffle dressing.
My main was free range creedy carver duck with dauphinoise, parsnip, baby veg, pickled walnuts, ruby port jus. I seriously wanted more!
Finally dessert was Belgian chocolate fondant with white chocolate custard and clotted cream. Absolute perfection- needless to say I slept well that night and woke up still feeling full!
The fun didn't stop the next day. We were off to try out a bit of Stand Up Paddle boarding (SUP) in the beautiful and serene Padstow Estuary. The sun was shining and the water was still. We had an amazing teacher from Harlyn surf school go step by step through the methods of paddle boarding. It's more complicated than I thought.
The first time I went paddle boarding I was given a board and a paddle and was told to go for it. This time I was taught which way to hold the paddle, the technique, how to manouvere, stop, turn around and go backwards. Before I knew it I was standing and having an amazing time paddling around the Estuary- I didn't want it to end but sadly time was up.
After all that paddling we certainly worked up an appetite, what better way to feed it with Fifteen by Jamie Oliver overlooking the beach. We were absolutely spoilt.
For starters I had Mozzarella di bufala with a roasted pear and almonds. Absolute cheese party in my mouth, the mozzarella was perfectly creamy in the middle complimented perfectly with the roasted pear. I could of had this again as a main- I loved it that much!
For mains I had Crispy fillet of salted hake, with potatoes and basil, it looks small but it definitely was a lot- not that I was complaining!
Finally for dessert I had Vanilla panna cotta with plums and shortbread. So fricking good!
Sadly the weekend had to come to an end. I wanted it to last so much longer. I'm definitely going to bring the girls back for this one- it's everything we love and more. Fitness activities, good food and Instagram worthy views that will have all your mates jealous. Ride on Retreats put on such a good vacation break!
Ride on Retreats have retreats in Cornwall, Portugal and Austria where you can do either surf and yoga lessons or snowboarding and yoga lessons- I'll let you guess where you can do which lessons! As well as surfing lessons they also offer Yoga SUP lessons which look awesome.
Before the weekend started I was feeling a bit run down so I gave the Alibi drink a taste. I genuinely felt so much better after a couple hours of drinking it, and it defo kept me going between the different activities. I generally don't like fizzy drinks but this is actually a fizzy drink that's good for you! I had a look at the ingredients and there's not a bad thing in sight. It's like Berocca in a can- but better! I have no idea how the guys managed to fit so many great ingredients into this one drink but I am definitely going to turn to this next time I'm feeling run down or tired. It comes in yummy citrus, pomegranate and blueberry flavours and without all the nasty sugars that are in normal fizzy drinks. It's naturally sweetened with stevia meaning there's no chemical based sweeteners in sight! Just writing this now has me craving for one!
This was my first taster of a fitness holiday and I am seriously won over- it's no wonder Ride on Retreats get bookings every day. Big love and thanks to Alibi Healthy Drink and Ride on Retreats!