Lost in the UK: Surfing Devon

Ever have one of those trips where even if the conditions aren't exactly perfect it's still fantastic? This would be one of those trips. I have to say, despite the forecast, the waves are pretty crap. With my luck they'll smooth out on Monday when I'm back in Frankfurt for my VERY LAST DAY. Whoohoo!

Anyhow, crappy waves aside, the trip is pretty fantastic. Great girls, great food. Even some good music. We heard a band on Friday night called Scaramoose. Totally local, and with a kind of Jack Johnson/Ben Harper sound to them.

So it's been such a trip to far. I arrived on Thursday, Kerry gave me ENDLESS crap about my board bag. Which is a lovely board bag, if you have 3 boards which I do not. Anyway, we manhandled the sucker into the car and headed to her house. Our 5am start time didn't pan out quite how we had hoped, but we still managed to get onto the road by about 6am and we missed ALL Of the Glastonbury traffic somehow and even squeezed in a quick session before the other girls arrived.

It has been incredibly windy so far. So bad in fact that the other girls tried to put up their tent and one of the tent poles BROKE! Can you believe it? Crap tent if you ask me, but anyway, they've managed to swing themselves a camper that has heat and a real shower in it so I suppose we're making out well in the end. Kerry and I are actually camping which is great. Wake up to the birds calling and the waves breaking. And when you step outside the tent you can do a surf check right on Croyde Bay right then and there. Absolutely lovely. And there are two other breaks that we've been surfing as well, Putsborough Sands and Saunton Beach. The surf culture here in North Devon is truly amazing. There are surf boards and surf shops everywhere. When picturing the dream world of surfing, it's always been SoCal or Hawaii that really pop into my head, but man are they hardcore here. And they have so many places to go. Incredible.

Anyhow, I'm so glad I was able to squeeze this in before I leave Europe. Hopefully I'll be able to find more opportunities to travel with her even when I'm back in the States. . . .