Duckpool.

Duckpool sits at the mouth of a steep valley where Stowe Water meets the Atlantic, tucking into a narrow cove managed by the National Trust north of Bude. The main attraction is a right-hander that peels off the rocky northern end of the beach at low to mid tide, walling up over a mixed bottom of uneven reef and sand before running out quickly - ride lengths rarely exceed 50m. The wave is crumbly rather than hollow, backing off as it moves through, with medium pace and a tendency to section on smaller swells. Beachbreak peaks occasionally appear across the bay when sand fills in, but these are secondary and inconsistent. The cove needs a genuine W or SW swell to push energy around the headland and wrap into the bay; the SW-NW window works but the spot fires most reliably on solid W groundswell. Easterly winds blow clean and offshore, while any westerly component onshores quickly and chops it up. Its remote position means it rarely draws crowds on weekdays, though weekend sessions can see more surfers sharing a short wave. Access is via a small National Trust car park above the beach - roughly 20 spaces - followed by a crossing of the stream and a scramble over a pebble and boulder ridge to the water. There is no RNLI lifeguard cover and phone signal is poor, so the spot demands self-sufficiency. This is not a beginner venue: rocks, rips above 1m surf, and a tide-dependent exit combine to make it a spot for surfers who can read the water.

A walling right off the rocky north headland, steep but crumbly, cutback terrain.