• The Beach Boys sang about it in the 1960s but it wasn’t invented in California.
• Mark Twain wrote about it when visiting Hawaii in 1866, but it wasn’t invented there either.
• Captain Cook saw it in Tahiti in 1778, but even that’s not its birthplace.

No, believe it or not, people have been riding the waves for thousands of years and pottery in Peru, dating from around 1000 BC, appears to show people wave riding on shallow reed boats similar in shape to a modern surfboard.

OK, so Devon and Cornwall hasn’t quite got that heritage but there are some fabulous surfing beaches to be found there. I’ve added details of a number of them to my West Country Cottages website.

Description, photos, maps, surf cams and more.
Best Beaches for Surfing in Devon and Cornwall – beginners and experts