France Trip

After darting over to look at Lafitenia and Erromardie, we eventually came across Hendaye, a lovely town on the border with Spain that we thought would have good exposure to the swell, and according to Stormrider, was the best place when everything else is closing.

The surf was solid 5ft foot and pumping, and although closing out a fair bit, we decided to give it a shot. I decided it was time to christen my Mullet with its first taste of French water.

The paddle out was challenging and managed to get out back and catch a hollow one. Found it a constant struggle to paddle back out and duck dive the new board, got caught inside and mullered by the relentless sets.

Eards and Dan, meanwhile, were chuffed to take on some huge fast drops as the walling waves pounded in.

By now I was knackered - having not been able to sleep the whole previous evening due to fear of the mad Frenchman coming back to destroy my boards, I decided to call it a day and have forty winks in the van.

Once the lads returned we had a bite to eat in Hendaye town, and decided to head back to Biarritz as we knew there was a youth hostel there.

The place was superb - they had a room available, and it was great to have a comfy place to stretch out, dry all my clothes and towels after a series of sleepless nights in damp tents.

We drank a couple of bottles of red, had a scrabble challenge, watched a surf flick in the bar, and met a stoned English surfer with dreads who reckoned he'd been chased out of Morroco by Al Qaeda.

Thankfully, he left us in peace to head into town, after he'd bored us with tales of how crap the UK is and his new-age type lifestyle. The dreaded fella did, however, give us some good advice and said that Guethary car park was fine for wild camping if we couldn't find an open campsite.

Unfortunately - there was no room for us the following night as a school were taking over the place the following day, booking up all available rooms for the week.

DAY 5
Next day, feeling refreshed after a good night's sleep and a shower, we drove into Biarritz and checked out the Grande Plage and the famous Cote De Basque spot - one of the birthplaces of the French surf scene.

It looked big, windy and nasty, so we decided to check out the other spots in the area - Anglet and Les Cavaliers to see if they offered us a cleaner option.

With the northern influence still prevalent in the swell, we headed back to Hendaye as we knew this would still be getting some waves.

The swell had dropped a little, but by late afternoon the sun was out, the cross-shore breeze was dropping, and some lovely 3 footers were coming in. Had some nice rides and after getting out we thought it'd be a good idea to set off and find an open campsite before it got dark.

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