[Closed] Where to live in the UK when your priorities are MTB & surfing?

Probably south wales.

But also North Yorkshire. The MTBing is more XC and less trail centers and bike parks. And the surfing is bloody freezing and frustrating.

But on the upside its Yorkshire.

And rent arround Saltburn is among the cheapest in the uk, i had a 3bed house, front and back gardens and a garrage on a nice street for £500/month! I could be surfing in a 10 minute drive, or cycling over the moors pretty much from the door. The village even had a pump track!

Walsall.

What’s more important, good surf or good mtb?

I’m 45min from the coast in west Devon and surrounded by good biking but I’d swap it in a heartbeat for somewhere closer to the surf. It’s the before/after works and marginal sessions that just aren’t worth the drive I miss out on.

Newquay seems to be improving as a town a bit and has a lot of options through the winter. Hellish in summer though. Further down towards Hayle/St Ives and access to the south coast gets easier too.

Swindon.

Obviously.

Tiree. Fat bike along the beaches.

Exmoor

New Zealand

South wales. Can be under am hour from both reliable surf and good riding spots

Surely abersoch/lleyn peninsula

MTB - Snowdonia, Coed y brenin, nant y gwythern (if it still exists) and loads of natural riding

Surfing - I'm no surfer but hells mouth is a renowned surf beach and abersoch main beach too. It's worth considering

Not what you asked in the title but... Spain or Portugal? Nice Atlantic swell, possibly better weather. What’s not to like?

Got to agree. You don't sound restricted by location so why limit your self to the uk? Especially when your priorities are hard to match in the UK.

Belfast? Surf in Portrush, loads of MTB in Down.

Swansea.
20mins to the surfing on the Gower, 20mins to Afan, 45mins to bike park Wales. Black mountains and Gower for endless natural trails
It's not a very nice city though but there are lots of pubs and it has a five mile beach

Having this dilemma myself...

I work near Oxford so have to factor that in. I'm currently an hour from the south coast near Salisbury and have a good number of decent trail heads and centres nearby, none right on doorstep....but....

Thinking on the welsh border near Chepstow gives good MTB on doorstep and surf in an hour at porthcawl or a little further for Rhosilli. BPW and Cwmcarn within an hour too. I'd be closer to work.

Can't move until I've renovated my gaff, so looking at 12 months plus.

I am near decent kitesurf locations, however, which is another complication!

Gower.

Redcar, good enough for Danny Hart and you've got an active local surf scene. If budget allows, not Redcar but somewhere on that coastline.

Cape Town.

My choice would be Aberystwyth. Has everything you have asked for and is a nice town in a stunning area.

No point being nearish but still a drive from both your passions. Live on the doortep of the one that is most condition dependant. So a beach somewhere.

I've thought about this a lot. North Yorks, Northumberland, Newcastle, Sunderland, Teeside, South Wales are all good options. I've not considered North Cornwall or N Devon - too spendy and too far from any sort of work for me.

But don't forget about where you need to live for work. No pont living a walk from the surf if it's a 90 minute each way commute to work as evening sessions will still be out.

I live North West of Leeds - top class bouldering within 15mins, good, hilly, XC MTB from my door and surf is a 90 min drive. And a short train commute to work. But I have found that the surfing has really fallen off as not realistic for an after work session. Also surfing, especially North Sea is dependent on conditions - conditions pick when you surf not the other way around. So if you are committed to surfing then that would be your priority

curve ball but I'm going to say Inverness or the likes. Aviemore less than an hour away for the Cairngorms and you have Thurso about 2 hrs north for arguably the best left hand pipe in Europe when its firing. You could also cut over to the west coast easily enough so could catch three different swell directions with a short drive (north.east/west)

I'm in Aberdeen and we have great cycling from the town or short drive in the car. Surf is a bit of a miss though being on the east coast but there are some hidden gems up here but you need to have more luck on your side for a good day on the board

Gatwick.

Easy access to the airport and unlimited travel options.

Redcar, good enough for Danny Hart and you’ve got an active local surf scene. If budget allows, not Redcar but somewhere on that coastline.

Lets not go too extreme, at least Saltburn has decent fish and chips on the pier after a surf!

Also as pointed out, no point being a drive from the decent spots and trails. May as well have a decent after-work surf spot on your doorstep and be able to ride upto Guisbrough. Or live in Guisbrough and with great local steep/technical stuff and drive the 10 minutes to the beach.

Redcar would just mean driving everywhere, and living in Redcar.

But really, if you're not tied down, why come to the UK for the worst part of the year. Just get somewhere out of season like the Canaries, Azores, Morocco or Madeira?

Saltburn is good enough for me 🙂
Great trails right on the doorstep at Errington woods. The surfing looks OK (but I don't go in the North Sea) Looks like the surfers use the pier as their equivalent of an uplift if that helps 🙂
Pleasant woods/beach/cliffs as a bonus.

In the spirit of completely ignoring part of the original request: north Spain.

Leftfield if you're minted - Bristol and its new wave lake. Mtb in city edge woods.

Swansea innit!

The city centre is shitty but you never have to go there. The prom and bay to Mumbles is amazing and the Gower is spectacular. Then all of South Wales and the beacons for biking.

Where not to live - Northampton. I can vouch for there being little in the way of MTB and definitely no surf. If I had the option to move to be closer to both I think I'd be looking at South Wales.

I’ve just had friend move to Forest of Dean, the trail centre is ok, dh trails a lot better but it’s the of piste that is next level. They live in the forest so can ride from the front door. You would be drive for surfing but not too bad as a whole. Plenty of options for big towns for work as well.

I’ve just had friend move to Forest of Dean, the trail centre is ok, dh trails a lot better but it’s the of piste that is next level. They live in the forest so can ride from the front door. You would be drive for surfing but not too bad as a whole. Plenty of options for big towns for work as well.

This is my thought. Not too far to drive for surf and on decent roads too. Brizzle a train ride away. Local riding excellent, plus some superb trail centres within an hour.

Thurso

I sometimes go down to Newquay for long weekends over the weekends and it isnt that bad actually, Grogley and Poldice will ride fine in the winter, there are also other spots which will be okay. You could also look at picking up a BMX or DJ bike and ride mount hawke skatepark when the weather is super minging outside.

When my brother was into surfing he always rated the NW coast of Scotland. Big waves, clean water warmed by the jet stream. Also good MTB'ing nearby. He lives in Aberdeen now but has converted over to kite surfing due to difficulty of decent surf.

You're going to find it difficult to live in one place that has decent surf and MTB'ing on your doorstep...you're going to have to drive a bit to either one. Not many places with decent mountains right on the coast.

Don't discount Cornwall, there may not be any large trail centres but there's plenty to ride: a small FC trail centre, lots of woodland you can ride in, the entire coast, several moors, and at least four bike parks. Similar story in Devon.

... actually read the OP now and see it's s temporary thing.

And completely agree with comments above - why bother with the UK at all. Basque region, Asturias (Picos de Europa and just a few miles from the cost) or central Portugal.

If it needs to be UK and you are not tied to work - I'd go South Wales. I like it up here in Yorkshire but North sea surfing in Winter is an acquired taste.

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

Some additional context;

Partner, dog plus myself are currently living in our motorhome (near Swindon funnily enough Flashy!) after renting our house (near Gatwick, again funnily enough) out in March. Our plan pre-lockdown was to have some time in the UK, then off to Europe & Morocco for a year. Obviously we’ve had to change our plans slightly... We’re now thinking of alternatives if we can’t get out of the UK for this coming winter. Trust me if we can leave we will be!

MTBing, surfing, dog-walking are our priorities. Walkable to a surf beach ideally. Scotland is out as SWMBO will not suffer a Scottish winter well and we can always visit friends & family up there if we want to.
Having spent time on the NE coast of England, as beautiful as it is the surf is just too inconsistent.

Drawn towards Cornwall but the MTB ain’t great, lived in Devon before so Woolacombe is a possiblity. South Wales also looks promising.

We’re looking at around a 4 month holiday cottage low-season rental.

Keep the locations coming, maybe with some specific towns mentioned!

Cheers again.

I’d look seriously at the Gower. Beaches facing most directions to catch swell and avoid mush from wind direction. A good network of bridleways (never ridden them though but looking at OS maps online they look extensive and some reasonable hills too). Somewhere like Rhossili seems to fit the bill.

I guess it depends on how much driving your willing to do and “good” you want the bike stuff to be. Proper Dh/enduro or more simple trial/xc based stuf
I’d suggest Bristol area, but requires a drive to both surf and mtb

Gower looks promising and appeals to me. Bristol is out lived there for uni and want to be somewhere totally new and much more rural and cheaper! Driving is not an issue as we have the motorhome so could even overnight at good ride spots I'd love to explore North Wales also.

+1 to the Lleyn Peninsula or Anglesey, but you'll struggle to find walkable to a surf beach (south-west facing) with good pubs. e.g. Morfa Nefyn is a good option for pubs but a drive to Hell's Mouth or Aderdaron; Rhosneigr or Aberffraw have facilities (pub/restaurant) and I believe are ok for surfing. Probably 1 hr drive to good MTB in Snowdonia.

Think its similar for Gower, the better surf beaches are a bit of a walk from the nearest villages with good pubs (due to the exposure of being south-west facing), and about 1 hr drive to MTB. Agin similar for Pemborkeshire - more pubs around Broad Haven-Newgale-Solva but an hour or more to e.g. Brechfa.

Walkable to a surf beach ideally.

Makes it trickier, but near Abersoch on the Llyn Penninsular might work?

I built a house in Rhosneigr, Anglesey, a few years ago...could sit in kitchen and see the bay from my window. Could be drinking a cuppa and be in the water in sub 5 minutes, staring back up at the house!
Anglesey, however, not itself epic MTBing, but within a short drive is Snowdonia.... also surf in Anglesey less consistent than even the Llyn.

Forest of Dean (Lydney/Blakeney) - MTB on the doorstep.  Severn Bore on the doorstep 🙂

I did Uni in Swansea for those reasons you cited.
I liked the city (Uplands etc) but given I'm now an adult, i'd look westwards i.e Mumbles would be a better place to live.

Riding wise there's Kilvey Hill which is a local spot but then a short drive to the valleys etc. Depends what riding you're into.
Surfing - Gower, loads of spots and West Wales isn't far away.

North Wales. Amazing MTB, not cornwall, but not 3 bad for surfing. 🙂