Coast Character: Rosy Hilton

On a sunny day I’ll throw my bodyboard into the back of my campervan – a dark green Ford Freda – and set off down the Devonshire country lanes to catch some waves. My campervan is a bit like having a portable beach hut. At the beach it becomes my changing room and, following a swim and a surf, it’s the perfect place to warm up with a hot chocolate, which I make on the little stove inside.

I grew up in Devon, playing and swimming at many of the beaches in Bude in Cornwall. Northcott Mouth Beach has always been one of my favourite parts of the coast. When the tide rolls out, it reveals wide stretches of sand and miles of rockpools for little people to splash around in. You can get a coffee, pasty or cream tea from Margaret’s Rustic Tea Room, which is based in a green caravan behind the beach. It’s been there for as long as I can remember.

The feeling of being in the sea is a bit like a drug. I start sea swimming and surfing at the end of April and choose my beach depending on the weather – each has it own unique microclimate. At surfing beaches such as Widemouth Bay it feels great being out there with the surfers and longboarders waiting for the big waves to arrive. The adrenaline rush of being roared on to the shore is an addictive feeling. Double and triple waves are my favourite. They have you skidding on to the beach in a very speedy fashion, which feels hugely exciting. 

When I walked a small part of the South West Coast Path in 2009, I decided I must complete the whole 630 miles, stretching from Minehead in Somerset to Dorset’s Poole Harbour. From the turquoise seas and clear white sands of the Lizard Peninsula to the fascinating fossils of the Dorset coastline, I’m constantly struck by the contrast of each stretch of coast. There are new dunes, estuaries, cliffs and heathland to be discovered on every one of my trips – and I’ve got 200 miles to go!