August 2020
Every post about 2020 would probably begin with a long speech about how unexpected that year was and how it totally ruined our plans. As well as the plans of 7 billion people. Still, I have no intention to complain, just to marvel at how life can turn sometimes. The virus aborted our trip to Jordan right at its start and brought us to Pau instead, which means – to a very close distance to the Atlantic Ocean. Thus, we rediscovered from the scratch both Spanish and French Basque Country (the old post is desperately outdated), did several stunning hikes and unexpectedly even to us – got determined to taste the surf culture, which is so widespread on the French South-West Atlantic coast. In short, that’s how we came to travel to Landes.
Waking up in some random spot in Landes
Typical Landes house with large and almost flat roof
Dax
So, we took our Robby II (Robby I after his two year service was buried in London) and drove to our destination passing through pine forests and tiny villages landais. Our first stop was in Dax – one of the biggest towns of the department.
That was the first bullring on our way – an unpleasant discovery of some traditions that should exist no more.
Mimizan
Our main destination was Mimizan – we chose it blindly by pointing on the map, checking whether there were any surf schools and available pitches in local camping sites, and that was it. Later it became clear that Mimizan was as good place as any, because all big resort towns on the coast are very much alike.
Honestly, even if Mimizan turned out to be more family-friendly resort than we thought, the week we spent there was awesome, and the camping atmosphere was just exactly what we were looking for.
This is how we imagine Bali
Endless chill – this is the best way to describe Landes
Surfers from throughout Europe
Surfing
In five days we took four 1.5h surfing classes with one of the local surf schools. Wow, what an exhausting but incredibly awesome sport! I wish I could tell you how fast and amazing our progress was, but I guess we would take it slow – by the end of our learning session we could confidently stand on our board while gliding on broken waves and that’s it. It would take us much more further practice in Hendaye to actually ride a wave, but hey, we all have to start somewhere.
Dry plants, houses drown in send 🌵
Contis
Each of our morning surf classes was followed first by a long pause and then by a proper bicycle ride in the surroundings. I can’t stress enough how cool it is to live with so much daily sport – even if we didn’t have our trip around Jordan, we managed to enjoy some great cycling days all the same. So, we took our bikes and rode to Contis – just to discover a town, which is very similar to Mimizan (and all other coast towns in Landes, sorry). No disappointment though, because of its strong “Western American” (again, in our imagination only) vibes. Desert, faded colors on wooden houses, cacti and other dry plants, even some really vintage cars. A true joy for a photographer’s eye. But beach and surfing first!
Vincent Cassel is said to have been in Conti that very day, who knows, probably we shared the same send under our bums
Sometimes we had to pinch ourselves to remind us that it was still France. Funny enough, this “dépaysement” sensation occurs in France often enough – and it’s just one of so many reasons why we love this country so much, and modestly consider it as the best place to live in Europe. And we’ve traveled and lived in many places to know what we are talking about.
It’s a paradox, but after almost two years in Normandy (and three years in England, two of them – on the sea coast), it was in Landes that we visited our first lighthouse. Which was in the middle of the pine forest. Looking like a giant lollipop. It didn’t in the slightest prevent us from feeling euphoric about this “first time”, I promise.
By the way, it was two weeks before we discovered that some settings in our camera got mad
and every single picture taken in Landes (as well as during our previous trips) were in JPG.
If you are interested in photography, you can imagine how badly we felt.
Biscarrosse
Next cycling destination was Biscarrosse, and that was, once again, another gorgeous ride. Lakes, pine forest, rain, surfing – all the elements that make a proper trip to Landes.
One day the Covid will be over and everyone will look with great amazement at all the masked holidays pictures, trying to recall what year that was exactly. But it will surely take some time.
All other places
Apart from all places described above, we were also lucky to pass by Vieux-Boucau-les-Bains, Seignoss and Hossegor, to try for the first time a proper Naturist beach (warning: it’s a one-way ticket), eat loads of Bali bowls and drink so much sangria, that we could easily explose. All that with a clear understanding of how lucky we are to see and to dive in all this beauty.
Check out: Visiting the Dune of Pilat
Forest is the place where we can hear our own heartbeat. Even if Landes pine forests were artificially planted by humans, it certainly has its own soul, just like any other forest.
The most beautiful of carpets
Epilogue
This trip made our summer of 2020. In fact, it was so full of senses, both physical and emotional, that it creative some kind of bias in our perception – we could swear that it the entire summer was dedicated to surfing in Landes, even if the whole adventure happened in the middle of August and didn’t last more than a week. It speaks volumes, doesn’t it. I’m posting this article a year later but I still feel how this experience and the beauty we saw in Landes drives me every day.
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