As I finished off the last of the fruitcake and Roses chocolates, I thought, “I should have just smeared that stuff across my thighs, because that’s where it’s going to end up.”

I spent December chomping my way through comfort food, but all this gorging had sapped my vigour and the winter months spent huddling indoors had drained my energy.

I needed a dramatic change, so when a friend suggested surfing, I put all thoughts of freezing cold water aside and concentrated on the opportunity to live out my Point Break fantasy.

Before I could slip another slice of pie in my mouth, I had booked my friend Rachel and I on a surf safari in Newquay, Cornwall.

Multimedia

• Tuk Tuk Surf Safari

Cornwall delivers on the surf

They came for the waves but the Robinsons found plenty of other ways to enjoy a stay at the seaside

BACKGROUND

• Mums go surfing in Cornwall

• Surf's up... in Bournemouth

• Test bench: wetsuits

• Bringing a new surfboard back to the UK

• Surfing in northern Spain

Multimedia

• Tuk Tuk Surf Safari

The Kernow Trek Tuk Tuk surf safari was set-up by Andrew Pearman, who imported his first auto-rickshaw from Thailand, one year after his wife Rosie and he opened their excellent B&B just outside Newquay. They now have another two tuk tuks.

The surf safari package costs £95pp with a minimum of four people booking, and includes the use of a Tuk Tuk and driver for the day to ferry you to and from beaches plus a surf or kite surfing lesson, and hire of boards and wetsuits. The price excludes accommodation.

The fun started from the minute Andrew collected my friend Rachel and I from the train station in a post box red Tuk Tuk. I wager even the dour could not help but find themselves giggling as the Tuk Tuk speeds along. Despite the cold weather, I found myself bouncing along as happy as the day my dad bought me my BMX.

There is something gloriously childish and joyous about riding along in a Tuk Tuk and I went to sleep at the Pearman’s B&B, Kernow Trek Lodge, genuinely excited at the thought of the next day’s activities, even though they involved jumping into the freezing cold water I’d attempted to avoided thinking about.

Following a hearty breakfast, our surf instructor Ashleigh Bennetts from the O'Neill surf academy arrived with boards and wetsuits. With bacon and eggs inside me, my enthusiasm for physical exertion started to wane but then the thought of tootling about in the Tuk Tuk got me back on track. I really am a girl of small pleasures.

Our driver/kite surfing instructor for the day Andy Heald of Atlantic Riders appeared and we all set off, with considerable attention attracted by the highly decorative Tuk Tuk. We’re in the vehicle that Andrew normally hires out for weddings, with flowers adorning its chrome exterior. I spent most of the journey trying to convince a recently engaged Rachel to get married in Cornwall so she could have the Tuk Tuk as her bridal transport.

Andy deposited us at Towan beach and in time for getting semi-naked in public as we squelched into wet suits as day-trippers stared at our mode of transport. Ashleigh, who is the action girl I wanted to be in my 20s but was distracted by clubbing and dysfunctional boyfriends, explained how to go about the business of surfing using a lot of imagery.

We’re to think of surfing as though we’re preparing for a race. After pulling ourselves onto our knees from a lying position, we then get up on one foot in a “on your marks” position, before getting both feet on the board in the “get set”, then when almost half-standing you’re in the “go” position and from there you pop up to standing.

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