Weston-Super-Mare

Long sandy and muddy beach, with many tourist attractions

Submitted by:
justal
Updated:
13th Apr 2004

Weston-Super-Mare
by: justal

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Weston-Super-Mare is a long, flat sandy beach that is ridiculously busy all year round and impossible on bank holiday weekends. OAP's trundle along the wide prom, boy racers with heavy bass music pounding from their souped up Fiesta's patrol the one way system and kids covered in ice cream and candy floss scream at their parents. There are numerous seaside stalls along the beachfront, a huge pier full of amusements, donkey rides on the beach, a land train and countless other tacky 'attractions'.

Despite all this, if you head south from the Tropicana and then turn right into Marine Drive, you can drive right onto the beach here and park on the sands. When the tide is out, the 100m or so of hard packed sand is ideal and very popular for kite-buggying, mountain-boarding and landsailing., Its also popular with boy-racers razzing around in their 'souped up' fiestas, so keep an eye out for them. Watch out for the sand further out though as it becomes more and more muddy and eventually bogs you down to your armpits...Certainly don't try to drive too far down the beach or you'll lose your car to first the mud and then the incoming tide.

Once the tide comes in, its possible to windsurf or kitesurf for about or 2 either side of high tide. There aren't too many hazards here as the tidal currents are minimal, the waves lack too much power and there are no rocks. There are a few groynes that will be submerged at high tide though, so make sure you know their wherabouts before sailing, and don't sail on an incoming tide that is larger than 12m as the beach disappears completely. Also, don't be tempted to stay out for more than 2 1/2 hours at the most after high tide as you'll have to drag your kit through the stickiest, smelliest mud you've ever seen!

Sailing from Uphill further south is also good, especially in more southerly winds (SW winds are cross-onshore at Weston-Super-Mare). You can no longer drive along the sands to Uphill, but you can get there by continuing on past Marine Drive for a mile or so and then driving through Uphill village and onto the beach.

On a good day Weston can get quite busy with up to 50 people windurfing and kitesurfing, but its size means it can handle these numbers without getting crowded. It can be OK for all levels, from complete beginners in light winds to experts in stronger winds when the confused waves and strong, usually onshore, winds can make it quite challenging. Sailing usually consists of bump and jump conditions in cross-onshore winds with mushy waves. Don't be too put off by the colour of the water either.

Although this isn't really a surfers beach, a few mad locals do give it a go now and then, but don't expect perfect conditions. There are waves here, but only for the desperate.