Boardmasters Music Festival, Cornwall, England

Boardmasters Festival Cornwall

I need to blog more, as I’ve mentioned, about the things I do about England rather than just focusing on my travels abroad. Because in all fairness, there’s some pretty awesome stuff going on around this “tiny little island,” as a flatmate of mine once called it.

One of the coolest things I’ve done recently is make the long, harrowing drive on the M5 to Cornwall. There’s only one major highway in and out of the west coast of the country, which I think they do on purpose. They have their own flag and their own language, and apparently want to secede from the rest of the UK. So, all in all, they’re pretty independent over there and make it quite difficult to get in and out of the county.

Boardmasters Festival Cornwall

Boardmasters Festival Cornwall UK

What is supposed to be a 3-4 hour drive can, with any little fender bender, become a day-long trip, as we unfortunately found out the hard way. My recommendation? If you are driving to Cornwall, leave very, very early to beat the traffic! But definitely go. Oh, definitely. The views alone are worth it.

Boardmasters Festival Cornwall UK

Boardmasters this year featured some of my faves, including Deadmau5 and Primal Scream, so I bought tickets pretty much the minute they went on sale. We booked a bed and breakfast months ahead of time (Newquay, the closest town to the festival, is crammed with people, although loads also camp out) and voila! We had the whole thing planned.

Boardmasters Cornwall UK

Boardmasters Festival Cornwall

Boardmasters Festival Cornwall UK

We arrived, checked in, took a quick nap to wind down from the ridiculously long trip and walked up the hill along the water to the festival.

Boardmasters Music Festival Cornwall

Boardmasters Music Festival Cornwall

Boardmasters Festival Cornwall

The festival ran Friday through Sunday but we just bought Saturday and Sunday day tickets. They were a bit pricey, but well worth it, not only for the awesome people watching and music…
Boardmasters Music Festival Cornwall

Boardmasters Festival Cornwall

Boardmasters Music Festival Cornwall

Boardmasters Music Festival Cornwall

Boardmasters Music Festival Cornwall

Boardmasters Festival Cornwall

…but the stunning views as well.

Boardmasters Music Festival Cornwall

Boardmasters Festival Cornwall

Boardmasters Music Festival Cornwall

Boardmasters Festival Cornwall

We mostly sat drinking beer and listening to house music at the Corona sunset tent the first night, totally in awe of the view and the sunset. Then we danced our faces off to Deadmau5.

Boardmasters Music Festival Cornwall

Boardmasters Music Festival Cornwall

The best thing about going to a festival, for me, is the people watching. There were loads of interesting people around, but I especially liked the ones who had their own homemade Deadmau5 heads. It was a really warm night, though, so I’m wondering how they could breathe in those masks. Even Deadmau5 kept taking his mask off during his set. These people were dedicated.

The next morning, having been conservative in our drinking, we decided to head to the beach for the day and go to the festival in the evening. It would be a shame to waste a beautiful day and an amazing beach.

Newquay Cornwall UK

Newquay Cornwall UK

The water was way too absurdly cold for me, although S. swam quite a bit. As I always say, you can take the girl out of America but you can’t take the American out of the girl, the water was just too, too cold compared to the Atlantic bathwater I’m used to back home on the East Coast.

Newquay Cornwall UK

Newquay Cornwall UK

Newquay Cornwall UK

It didn’t really bother me, though, I just explored the cliffs and took in the views which are clearly awesome.

Newquay Cornwall UK

Newquay Cornwall UK

Newquay Cornwall UK

Newquay Cornwall UK

Newquay Cornwall UK

Newquay Cornwall UK

Newquay Cornwall UK

Newquay Cornwall UK

After beach time, we filled up at the local pub, which was clearly having its busiest day of the year. The Mermaid Inn was definitely in a good location, overlooking the water, but was the slowest service I’ve ever experienced. It took an hour for our food to arrive! At least it was worth the wait. I’ve never had a proper ploughman’s lunch before. It was pretty good, if not HUGE. Who says we only serve massive portion sizes in America? (Although can you imagine putting that food down in front of an American for lunch in America? You’d have a riot on your hands! Too much green on the cutting board.)

Cornish food UK Mermaid Inn

Day two of the festival was just as good as day one, if not more crowded. I think people were starting to realize it was all coming to an end, and wanted to enjoy themselves one final evening. I think the most magical moment of the entire festival was when Primal Scream sang “Higher then the Sun” at the sunset. Was just amazing.

Boardmasters Festival Cornwall

Boardmasters Festival Cornwall

After Primal Scream we wandered around to other tents, watching incredible acts in various locations around the festival, like this jazz band in a teeny tiny Airstream!

Boardmasters Festival Cornwall

As was the Corona stage, where we sat in hammocks, all danced out, and made funny faces at the camera and drank beer until it was too cold, and we went home.

Boardmasters Festival Cornwall

Will definitely be going back to Boardmasters next year, although we’ll be driving in the middle of the night to avoid the traffic!

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