France - Biarritz
Biarritz, the perfect day to arrive
The night train pulled into Biarritz about 7am so nice and early. I jumped on the bus from the station and headed towards Anglet, the beach town north of Biarritz where I was booked in at the campsite. As the bus wound around the town high on the cliffs above the beach we got some wicked views of the Atlantic coast. The wind was a light offshore easterly and the waves were a nice 4 foot, in other words perfect and I could not wait to get off the bus and head straight for the beach.
Great waves on the beach out from my campsite
After checking in at the campsite I went straight for the beach, stopping only for a breakfast of 4 croissants at the bakery (cos there is nothing worse than hunger out in the surf). I rented a board on the beach for €20 for 4 hours and hit it. The water was a warm 21 degrees so you could have got away without a wetsuit, I got a spring suit with my board though. I could tell I was out of practice and after a couple of hours I had to crash out on the beach for a break, especially duck diving of the powerful 4 foot waves became a bit of a struggle in the end. The waves were hard and fast, they broke pretty well but as the tide dropped the bigger waves started to closeout. I had some awesome rides at the beginning but towards the end fatigue caught up with me and I had a few good wipeouts. It was so great to get into the water and very refreshing after the unrelenting heat of Barcelona and Madrid.
Biarritz town
I surfed the first two days but on the third day the winds turned to the west and the waves got pretty ugly. After the full on two days of surfing I was happy to stay on land so I went for a walk into Biarritz to check out the town.
Ben and Anthony
The Anglet campsite was a great place, it was packed with young people and there was lots of fun to be had day and night. Staying in the tent next to me was Ben and Antony a couple for frenchies from Quiberon in Brittany, they were a both body boarders and a top pair of blokes. In the tent across from us were a nice couple of french girls called Mélanie and Dominique both nurses from Toulouse. We had a couple of good nights drinking at the campsite and ended up at the local bar both nights. We all hung out on the beach, the girls sun bathing and the boys in the waves.
Mélanie and Dominique
I was hoping to stay longer at Biarritz but the surf died away by the third day and the conditions looked poor for the next 4 days so on the end of the third day I jumped on another night train and headed towards my next destination, Lake Garda Italy. The train left at about 4pm and headed east along the line of the Prynees through the famous religous town of Lourdes, the scenery was spectacular until it got dark.
The night train pulled into Biarritz about 7am so nice and early. I jumped on the bus from the station and headed towards Anglet, the beach town north of Biarritz where I was booked in at the campsite. As the bus wound around the town high on the cliffs above the beach we got some wicked views of the Atlantic coast. The wind was a light offshore easterly and the waves were a nice 4 foot, in other words perfect and I could not wait to get off the bus and head straight for the beach.
Great waves on the beach out from my campsite
After checking in at the campsite I went straight for the beach, stopping only for a breakfast of 4 croissants at the bakery (cos there is nothing worse than hunger out in the surf). I rented a board on the beach for €20 for 4 hours and hit it. The water was a warm 21 degrees so you could have got away without a wetsuit, I got a spring suit with my board though. I could tell I was out of practice and after a couple of hours I had to crash out on the beach for a break, especially duck diving of the powerful 4 foot waves became a bit of a struggle in the end. The waves were hard and fast, they broke pretty well but as the tide dropped the bigger waves started to closeout. I had some awesome rides at the beginning but towards the end fatigue caught up with me and I had a few good wipeouts. It was so great to get into the water and very refreshing after the unrelenting heat of Barcelona and Madrid.
Biarritz town
I surfed the first two days but on the third day the winds turned to the west and the waves got pretty ugly. After the full on two days of surfing I was happy to stay on land so I went for a walk into Biarritz to check out the town.
Ben and Anthony
The Anglet campsite was a great place, it was packed with young people and there was lots of fun to be had day and night. Staying in the tent next to me was Ben and Antony a couple for frenchies from Quiberon in Brittany, they were a both body boarders and a top pair of blokes. In the tent across from us were a nice couple of french girls called Mélanie and Dominique both nurses from Toulouse. We had a couple of good nights drinking at the campsite and ended up at the local bar both nights. We all hung out on the beach, the girls sun bathing and the boys in the waves.
Mélanie and Dominique
I was hoping to stay longer at Biarritz but the surf died away by the third day and the conditions looked poor for the next 4 days so on the end of the third day I jumped on another night train and headed towards my next destination, Lake Garda Italy. The train left at about 4pm and headed east along the line of the Prynees through the famous religous town of Lourdes, the scenery was spectacular until it got dark.
posted by Peter Spencer at 1:39 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home