The Basque Country

So I drove south out of France and into the Basque country about a week ago.  I had 3 nights in French Basque country south of Biarritz near a village called Guetharay.  A beautiful place with 2 great breaks, but mostly suited to long

Also here is one of the best breaks I have ever been to, called Lafiteinia.  It is a 300m+ right hand point that holds up to 5 metres.  Basically, even massive waves break properly here and the ride goes on for a very long time.  I went in on my first day and had an excellent surf.  The next day, it was very big and heavy and there were far too many shit hot local surfers in the water for me to have got any waves.  I therefore went to the Spanish border and surfed Hendaye.

You wouldn’t want that to land on your head. Plenty of guys in the impact zone.

I have met a truly crazy Austrian called Johanas (pronounced “your highness”, as he likes to say) who is genuinely eccentric.  He was the Finance Director for the major Austrian oil company and has lived all over the world, including London and the Isle of man of al places.  He took what he refers to as a platinum handshake and now spends a lot of time with his car and caravan in northern Spain surfing.  He is currently at the end of a 4 month trip.

Hendaye, where I surfed is right on the Spanish border.

We travelled from French into Spanish Basque country together and have been to about 5 different places now.  He’s been good company and we’ve had a lot of fun, although a week of getting drunk is now taking its toll, so I am going to travel on West on my own tomorrow.  His fluent English and Spanish and good knowledge of Basque have been really useful.  Johanas, is loud and talks to everyone and generally makes them laugh, so it’s not been dull.  He is actually very funny, but shutting him up is not particularly easy.

His use of Spanish certainly helped when I locked myself out of my van for a 2nd time.  Yep, a 2nd time, but the system on the van is crazy, so it’s not all my fault.  See the next post.

The Reposte

Further to my earlier slating of the French, I spoke with a French friend of mine living in Brighton (Caroline) and asked her why everything is so dead in France and even the bars close at around 9pm.  I said that the streets in England and Spain to the north and south are always bustling, so where are the French?

She has a perfect and instantaneous repost. She said “James, in France, it is all about quality and not quantity”.

Well, that told me I suppose …. good answer.

After Mimizan, I moved to Hossegor, which is famous in the surfing world for it’s very fast and powerful waves.  The Quicksilver Pro France Competition was taking place, so I watched the comp in the morning and then went in and showed them how it is done :).

Hossegor is full of good looking chic women and top quality surfers.  A mixture of guys living out of vans and others in top class hotels and luxury villas.  Lots of boutique shops and restaurants.  It’s a cool place to hang out

After the morning cycling by the lake, I have 2 good surfs at Mimizan Plage. Te surf was small but empty and fun.  Mimizan is a nice little resort.  Like all of the French resorts, there are lots of showers and clean toilets at the beach.

After lunch in Arcachon, I drove South to a holiday town called Mimizan. it was just getting dark when I got near and rather than find a place on the road in town, or at a campsite, I thought I’d turn off on one of the tracks into the forest I’d been driving alongside for hours.

The tracks are basically on sand, so i didn’t drive in too far to avoid getting stuck (I have experience of this in Morocco).  I parked in a clearing and found that I was next to a big lake.

When I woke in the morning it was really misty and a bit eery and there were big cob west on the bushes and trees.

As the sun started burning off the mist, I decided to go for a cycle on the track which went around the lake. I found small fisherman’s lodges and boats by the side of the lake.  Most of them has been camouflaged for some reason.  There were a lot of birds, so they may also have been used by bird watchers.  It was a fantastic morning and very quiet (I only saw 1 person and he was fishing from a boat). Here are some of the photos I took.

As the mist was clearing, I started to see the lodges.

I left Lacanau on the morning of 30th Sept and had a great drive through miles of pine forests and very flat land which stretches all of the way down to where the French Basque country starts.  The homes reminded me of US hillbillies.  There were all set back from the road surrounded by trees, single story and made of timber. In the compounds, were old tractors and cars and often dogs, sometimes on a long rope with outside kennels.

I drove to Arcachon which is on an estuary at the mount of the Atlantic and there is a large area of water they call Le Basin, in which they farm Oysters.  There are seafood and oyster shops and cafes everywhere.  When in Rome!

The surf is brilliant, the weather is brilliant .. everything is brilliant  …. oh, and did i say, the surf is brilliant?  I have loads to upload about my trip and movements, but the surf is so good that I haven’t had any time.  I’ll try and do some posts tomorrow.  I have some good photos.

My board was lying on the floor after a surf. It is made by Firewire and the brand is a Hellfire.  Firewire make several different boards and one of them is called a Spitfire.

A German guy came over and stared at my board and said to me: Iz Dat a Spitfire? ….. I really want a Spitfire!

I started laughing and wanted to say “Your Grandfather would have wanted exactly the same thing 75 years ago.”