Western Europe

[Revolution]

Well you may or may not have read im heading to europe August 12/13 for a few months with a mate. Looking forward to it all, night life especially but just traveling in general

Just wondering if anyone knows the situation on surf down there. Will be heading to most likely Lisbon in Portugal and not to sure where else surf wise. Anyone been around the whole Europe area, what conditions, temperature and all the shebang can i expect around this time?

Thanks.

[Carpark King]

cant help ya but i will be doing the same thing.

i wanna do hossegor, anglet, peniche, basque country - san sebastian.

yeeeeeeeoooowww

[CRACKERS]

drop us a line if you want some help on portugal

other wise if your in Ericeira drop into sete7 bbing store and talk to Flavio...he can help with accom, tips ,gear etc

[stormy]

im an aussie living in ireland , if you got enough time it deffinatly can be good , winds a bit strong and water a bit cold during december and january but 2-3 months either side of that the wind backs off a bit and the swells still come. bit expensive , massive tides , winds change direction regularly , coast line can be hard to read with swell directions , not many hostels , deffinatly need a car...
after all that the rewards can be high.
canaries is good if ya havnt heard , lots of reefs and lots off competitive locals , lazy though.

[Eski]

Im in Italy at the moment... saw some waves around here, dont really know if thats normal or not though.

[stormy]

ive seen some great looking waves in italy , way up north , clean and perfect , only small , also out of barcelona , solid 4-5 ft empty... go looking!!!!!!!!

[Dingus]

Water in the south of France at the moment gives you an icecream headache with every duckdive.
Had some waaanker French dude steal waves from me over and over this morning with his longboard and paddle back out smiling at me. To have him go over the falls on a 1ft wave and pop up looking straight at me a metre away as I sat there was worth it though.
The keyboards are confusing, bring your own. Oh! and the excess baggage fee per kilogram from Sydney to Paris is $40.

[Revolution]

Dae been meaning to email u (butts gave me your email) i had no idea you were in europe at the moment.

Whats your tips of surf locations .. been gettin told hossegor by everony. Also found $900 flight (1800 return) ... fuck yea i was expecting $3000...

Oh and that takes me straight to amsterdam with NO stops

[Chong]

August is an average month for waves in Europe. September on the other hand pumps. I was lucky enough to spend two weeks around Hossegor and Biarritz in September in 1999 and it was amazing. The waves were insane and varied and the naked women on the beach definitiley add a bit of colour.

I also was lucky enough to spend a few months hanging in Portugal south of Lisbon for 3 months one (european) winter and it was one of the best surf trips times in my life (so far) - surfing all kinds of empty waves, eating great food and generally absorbing the culture. In summary there are excellent waves throughout Europe and North Africa - just go looking and maybe pack a 4/3 steamer if you are staying over winter.

[Dingus]

Only 1 week into it so far and busy being confused by the language. I took the easy option for a 6 month stay and came as a language student.

Beaucoup waves when I landed and a local surfer driving past picked me up and took me for a surf (yeah, it's 8ft he says casually). By surf I stayed well inside and outside on my own Everyone else had guns and booties, I had my 6'6'and an icecream headache. Been flat for at least the last few days now.

The school stuffed up and placed me about a 45 minute walk from the beach but looks like I have an angle to stay with a surfing family by the beach in Biarritz hopefully within the next couple weeks. This will increase my local knowledge.

I got told if it's good down in the south of France, then over the border in Spain can be much better, so if you're looking to settle down a little here, keep that in mind with transport options. From Biarritz though there is plenty of options for at least the next few kilometres south, and Hossegar is something like 15km away, I dunno I'd have to verify that as I haven't checked it out yet.

Got told today there's some special on the TGV (train) for 30euro return from here to Paris - as like you, there's some plans for a weekend or two in Amsterdam - so keep your ear close to the ground when you get here for wild weekends so you don't have to keep a tight schedule if that isn't your style.

Fat people get booted out to sea, and not too many average chicks either, so disconnect the hot water system. Dress with a bit of style and try and get some language up so you don't get confused with a pom will help your chances on the town. If you're out to party, places don't open that early so be prepared to party through the night and sleep through the morning. I think they have a law against anybody doing anything before 10am. A couple hour sieste in the arvo as well. Jeez dude, just marry some chick over here and be done with it!

[Revolution]

I arrived in lisbon early this morning from madrid and am gonna hopefully explore the coast a little but just starting off tomorrow at cascais which ive been told has free bike rental which i might need to find a nice wave. Surf is meant to be 15ft at 13 seconds tomoz cept im a little unsure on swell direction + winds that im after...

Got 5 days in portugal before we leave to san sebastian and also plan on making the 50 odd km trip to mundaka at some stage when staying in san sebastian.

Any tips now that im here?? Crackers you still around?

[Dingus]

Ha, I leave monday for farkn Aus again. Just got back from a coupe days around Barcelona and it's windy cold and messy from what I saw from the train, have to have a closer look soon. San Sebastian is a beautiful town, been there a few times but never looked at the surf there so can't help ya. Mundaka is apparently about 2 hours by car and from what I've been told the train doesn't go there, but someone here should have some info on it for you.
When you're in Pays Basque, which includes San Seb, keep an eye out for publicity for the local pelote games or a demonstration of Force Basque. Check up on pelote on the internet, there's a few different types and I think the best is the one with the big scoop on the hand, but forget the name of it right now. It's an enjoyable couple of hours in the evening and each town will hold a local match at least once a week. The Force Basque is a series of strength and agility games they play, you'd probably see similar in a lot of good old country towns around the world, but may as well educate yourself a little while you're in the area.
I probably mentioned it before, but from Anglet you have about 200km of beach running north so check your options for getting in for a look along this stretch, there's a decent chance you'd find yourself some empty beachies.
Good luck, I hope you have fun.

[Revolution]

yeh san sebastian is meant to have ok surf, but fuck at cascais the water is almost out winter but its 30 degrees out and as for surf there... lol! 1ft at most we saw in the bay...

Im reakon im gonna leave my mates for a bit and getting a train upto nazare for a night or two, was one of the places i always wanted to go but then slowly developed that it was unlikely throughout this trip.

whats the night life like in barcelona... was out till 5am last night in lisbon and it was fucked... we arrived at 2am to find a dead club was told later on most places around where we were dont pick up till around 4am and go till around 10

oh and thanks for the tip on pelote games... will deffinately check them out. most fun ive had so far is hanging out with the locals, met a bunch in spain and hung out with them the next day was sick fun.

[Dingus]

I stayed in a town outside Barcelona. Personally I'd be careful choosing where I went out to at night alone, there's some dodgy blokes around there.

Barcelona is Mullet City. I saw normal mullets, dreadlock mullets, John Farnham in his heyday blowdried mullets, dirty mullets, sad mullets, all sorts. How much would you trust a city that doesn't shoot these people?

I'd be interesting hearing how Nazare is, I wanted to head there as well but chose not to for the train fees at the time. Clubs don't seem to kick off to around midnight here, they love to party and love to sleep in. I had thought that it'd give me an edge for the early, but there was always more people at dawn in the water than on dusk. Was fine by me because I could sleep in as long as possible.