France Trip

DAY 8
Wind was still affecting the surf, but there was a rideable wave at Les Bourdaines again. Got out, and met a local who said ' Eet'll be bettur latur - maybee an hour...' so we went to wolf down some lunch and recuperate.

Driving back to the spot, I legged it up to top car park to check the surf, and bumped into Carwyn Williams and his mate Beaver from Oz, who'd just had a surf. I introduced myself and he was freaked out to hear we shared the same name.

There was still a little wave so we grabbed the longboards for some malpractice, and agreed to meet up with Carwyn later who was gonna be out with his mates to celebrate New Beaujolais Day.

After the surf we met Carwyn in Café De Paris, and he very kindly treated us to some top class hospitality - was a bit mad on the lash with someone who I'd only seen on surf vids before! We'd also heard of his reputation as a party animal - so we knew we were in good company!

The rest of the night turned out to be carnage - many bottles of wine were consumed, we met loads of friendly locals, his travelling mates and ended up being guests at their house party.

Like myself, Eards and Dan were in a helluva state by now. I really can't remember much of the night... apart from the bits which I can't / shant mention on here.. ;) Several top-ups later, I wiped out in a hammock at the top of the stairs.

DAY 9
Woke up with dry contact lenses fused to my eyeballs and had the mother of all hangovers... We didn't have a clue where we were, and whilst walking out the house, met someone who was in the party last night and she very kindly gave us a lift back to Hossegor.

The swell was dropping off. Just as well, as I don't think we left our tents until 3 that afternoon cause we were still well and truly mashed up. Decided to see if a dip with the mals could cure our hangovers - had a few rides at Les Bourdaines again, and our heads were still pounding as the sun went down.

Gave in to the fact that we were still KO'd, and called it a very early night, in order to sober up for an early start and a looooong drive all the way back up to Brittany to catch the late ferry to Blighty.

DAY 10
Got up at 5.30am, Dan was still green and hungover, so Eards and I had to dismantle his tent with him still in it, and pack them both away in the back of the Van.

Hit the road, made good time up to Bordeaux, and decided not to take the Peage's back - both to save bucks and check out the French countryside and vineyards.

Motored past Nantes and Rennes, reached St Malo with plenty of time to spare, and had a nice slap up feed before boarding the ferry and completing our adventure.

All in all - we managed to get in the water 75% of the trip, with about half of those being in decent surf. On top of that we'd had a whale of a time in Hossegor, and the experiences at Bayonne and Guethary have wised me up a lot about what to look out for when visiting there next.

We consumed a ton of Pain-au-Chocolat's and drank so much coffee on the trip that we were twitching all the way back to Cardiff.

FIN

Words and pics by Caws