Biarritz et l’océan magnifique…

We have arrived in Biarritz, France.   A picturesque surfing town.  We were told on arrival that we would likely experience all 4 seasons in one day! C’ést vrai…

Our 2 bedroom apartment is just a 5 minute walk from the “Grande Plage”.  Today, the kids learned the word ‘beach’ in French: “plage”.  We will try to learn one French word every day.

The Grande Plage has enormous waves.  We have seen some top notch surfing, in fact the first day a surfing contest was taking place.  We have watched for hours from the sand but unfortunately the waves are much too big for the kids to even paddle in…

So on Wednesday morning, we decided to venture over a little further.  The kids were desperate to swim and boogie board. We packed up our two-wheeled shopping cart, 2 boogie boards, a surf board, 3 wetsuits, 2 skate boards, helmets, pads, some beach mats, beach pails and shovels, towels and a picnic lunch and we headed over to a beach called “Port Vieux” on foot.  We had read that this beach is often protected from wind and waves. We didn’t bother to check the weather.  The sun was out and there were only a few clouds in the sky.  There was a light breeze in the air.  We wore shorts and lathered ourselves in sunscreen.

We made our way down to the promenade starting at the Grande Plage.  Our load was heavy.  As we walked, we began to notice more than a ‘light breeze’.  The waves were crashing against the shore.  The beaches were empty.  Most walkers were wearing parkas.

Spirits still high, we ventured on.  15 minutes into our heavily laden walk, Matt declared sore feet.  Sure enough he had a blisters on both.  His shoes are officially too small.  To continue on or to turn back – that was the question.  The shoes were removed and we ventured on – barefoot.  Stunning views.  Amazing architecture.  A gothic church.  An old fishing port.  A statue of the virgin on the cliff.  Sun still shining.  Winds picking up slightly.  Huge waves. The ocean is powerful.  We could watch it for hours.

45 minutes later, we made it to our beach! We climbed down several flights of stairs with our heavy load and headed into the middle of the empty, clean and beautifully swept, beach.  Not a soul to be seen.  The wind was howling.  The waves were crashing against the shore.  The sand was whipping against our faces. We had to yell to be heard.  “Time for a picnic anyone?”

It may not have been protected but it was all ours.  We devoured our picnic of French bread, brie, saucisson and apple.  The boys dug in the sand.  Olivia gulped down a bottle.  And we gazed out to sea…

As we allowed our minds to drift into the big unknown, we slowly began to notice the ocean filling up with people. One by one, emerging out from rock cliff behind us, were men and women in bathing suits, swim caps and some had flippers.  They tottered down to the beach, walked into the ocean (it’s almost as cold as Tofino FYI!), and began to swim (or as Dave noticed, many were just floating/bobbing in one place).  (Today, on my walk, I returned to this beach to discover a private swim club built into the cliff.  It even had change rooms and showers.  There was a group of young kids (probably 8-10 year olds) doing beach drills with their coach as the lifeguards prepared their rescue surf boards.   The kids were apparently headed into the wild, roaring ocean for some boogie board fun.  They must be such incredibly strong swimmers.  The waves were crashing against the rock walls and the swell was coming way up the beach.  My boys are most definitely not ready for this!)

Back to our walk… A promise of ice cream helped the boys get back to the Grande Plage.  Turns out that this was the protected beach of the day and so we settled into another couple hours of beach play, boogie boarding (short lived), surfing and sand play.

That night Dave and I both collapsed on the sofa with a nice cold glass of Rosé…