Chapter Five: Ré-fuge
I woke up at dawn and made myself a coffee. It was pretty cold outside. With the open door, I could enjoy the hot energy drink with a first-row view on the ocean. The swell had not really backed off. Still very solid. I went for a walk along the beach for a closer check. Yes, the swell was solid. Too solid for me. One lonely surfer dared to paddle out but had immense difficulties catching a wave. Almost too solid for him too, but after a while he cached a wave. He used it to surf back to the beach.
I drove to Biarritz to get some breakfast and see if the breaks over there could transform the swell into something surf-able for me. It was a sunny day again without a cloud in the sky. Temperatures rose to very comfortable pretty soon. The wind was blowing offshore. Perfect conditions for a nice day of surfing.
To my surprise a found a parking lot for my van very close to the promenade right above the bay. Something almost impossible during summer. Autumn is a great time to travel and surf in this area…
Time for a swell check and again: it was very solid. Too solid again for this bay to create properly surf-able waves on a regular basis. I mean, there was the odd wave that didn´t close out but getting a good ride meant a lot of paddling and quite a few failed attempts.
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