Cantabria, Spain
Hola!
Now that I've been at Dyson for just over 5 months I thought I would treat myself to a little two week holiday with my family in Cantabria on the north-west coast of Spain.
My Dad, brother Edwin and I headed down there on a 36 hour boat with the car onboard and then sailed away into the sunset on a lovely Friday evening. My Mum joined us a few days later by aeroplane and then my older bro Charlie came over later with his girlfriend. Having visited the area so many times in the past the area is almost becoming a home from home!!
It was good to be back on the road again, on another voyage trying to live up to my namesake as the intrepid explorer. This may I add is becoming a more difficult quest hour by hour, day by day!
But no fear... the intrepid explorer is still an explorer at heart and got straight back into the swing of things checking out as many things as he could from the local crusine such as callamari, shellfish, lomo, jamon, tortilla (Spanish omelette) and spicy Spanish sausages otherwise known as chorizo. He also perfected the art of ordering "cafe con leche, mas... gracias" which is coffee not watered down with water like in the UK, but instead enhanced with gorgeous hot milk, it is fantastic!
Over the 2 weeks we camped at the traditional family campsite in Noja which is situated right alongside a really nice beach with gorgeous soft sand and good waves. We found a couple more surfing beaches on this trip too which really paid off as the waves were excellent!
The two best days of surfing on the trip came on red flag days, which is when a warning is issued and only people with suicidal tendencies or have the appropriate bodyboarding flippers like me go into the sea!! The first time was at a beach near Santander and I think I caught the longest wave of my life as I caught the wave right out the back on the bodyboard and hung on until I hit the shore!!! What a ride!
The second day was at Ajo near Noja which was on the last day of my holiday. I was actually considering not going in at all as I have never seen conditions like it as it was just wave after wave pounding the shore! But I weighed it up for several moments before deciding to that it was safe enough to go in. It took a little while to get out to the back as I had to swim with my bodyboard underneath the successive surge of each wave only to get dragged back again by the undercurrent.
After finally getting out to the back, I bided my time checking out where the waves were falling and then got into position. A few giantic waves passed me by only to fall as an almighty crescendo of water a few moments later. Uh oh indeed.
I waited for the next opportunity and sure enough the biggest wave of my life was coming towards me, creeping up higher and higher... I paddled quickly in front waiting for the wave to pick me up, and pick me up it did!
I remember looking down from the top for a brief moment and then I skidded down the face of the wave with water splashing up onto my face. It was exhilarating to say the least!
I caught a few more waves afterwards with my family watching from the safety of the beach. I then finally rode home the last wave of my holiday only to be overcome by the wave which had caught up with me and had dragged me back right into the wave. But luckily I had seen a few surfing movies and so I just hung in there and then the board finally picked up speed and I came out of the wave and took a breath of fresh air to generous and almost rapturous applause from my family who were probably more relieved to see me come out alive let alone still intact on the board!
It was a great holiday.
Now that I've been at Dyson for just over 5 months I thought I would treat myself to a little two week holiday with my family in Cantabria on the north-west coast of Spain.
My Dad, brother Edwin and I headed down there on a 36 hour boat with the car onboard and then sailed away into the sunset on a lovely Friday evening. My Mum joined us a few days later by aeroplane and then my older bro Charlie came over later with his girlfriend. Having visited the area so many times in the past the area is almost becoming a home from home!!
It was good to be back on the road again, on another voyage trying to live up to my namesake as the intrepid explorer. This may I add is becoming a more difficult quest hour by hour, day by day!
But no fear... the intrepid explorer is still an explorer at heart and got straight back into the swing of things checking out as many things as he could from the local crusine such as callamari, shellfish, lomo, jamon, tortilla (Spanish omelette) and spicy Spanish sausages otherwise known as chorizo. He also perfected the art of ordering "cafe con leche, mas... gracias" which is coffee not watered down with water like in the UK, but instead enhanced with gorgeous hot milk, it is fantastic!
Over the 2 weeks we camped at the traditional family campsite in Noja which is situated right alongside a really nice beach with gorgeous soft sand and good waves. We found a couple more surfing beaches on this trip too which really paid off as the waves were excellent!
The two best days of surfing on the trip came on red flag days, which is when a warning is issued and only people with suicidal tendencies or have the appropriate bodyboarding flippers like me go into the sea!! The first time was at a beach near Santander and I think I caught the longest wave of my life as I caught the wave right out the back on the bodyboard and hung on until I hit the shore!!! What a ride!
The second day was at Ajo near Noja which was on the last day of my holiday. I was actually considering not going in at all as I have never seen conditions like it as it was just wave after wave pounding the shore! But I weighed it up for several moments before deciding to that it was safe enough to go in. It took a little while to get out to the back as I had to swim with my bodyboard underneath the successive surge of each wave only to get dragged back again by the undercurrent.
After finally getting out to the back, I bided my time checking out where the waves were falling and then got into position. A few giantic waves passed me by only to fall as an almighty crescendo of water a few moments later. Uh oh indeed.
I waited for the next opportunity and sure enough the biggest wave of my life was coming towards me, creeping up higher and higher... I paddled quickly in front waiting for the wave to pick me up, and pick me up it did!
I remember looking down from the top for a brief moment and then I skidded down the face of the wave with water splashing up onto my face. It was exhilarating to say the least!
I caught a few more waves afterwards with my family watching from the safety of the beach. I then finally rode home the last wave of my holiday only to be overcome by the wave which had caught up with me and had dragged me back right into the wave. But luckily I had seen a few surfing movies and so I just hung in there and then the board finally picked up speed and I came out of the wave and took a breath of fresh air to generous and almost rapturous applause from my family who were probably more relieved to see me come out alive let alone still intact on the board!
It was a great holiday.
posted by Adrian at 11:04 am
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