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.