Most days, life at Star Surf Camps Moliets is pretty chilled. Normally, a surf camp day starts with sleepy campers slowly emerging from their tents to eat as much breakfast as possible before heading down to the beach for a surf session and, normally, the day ends with them collapsing back into their tents after a hard day’s surfing and a hard night’s dancing.
But Bastille Day in France is not most days. Every year on July 14th, France celebrates the storming of the notorious fortress-prison in 1789. Despite only having seven inmates at the time of the attack, as a result of the high number of political prisoners whose writings had displeased the crown, the Bastille was a symbol of the absolutism of the French monarchy. Its fall was followed by the abolition of feudalism a few weeks later and the Déclaration des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen shortly after that.
Two hundred and twenty seven years later, Bastille Day in a Moliets surf camp began with all surf holiday makers’ morning run round the lake being interrupted by a cannon salute, and, while it may have seemed like it was business as usual on the beach, plans were underway for an unforgettable evening!
The first stop on the agenda was the Aquatic Landes water park in Labenne. A regular stopping point for the surf camp’s weekly trip to Biarritz, it wasn’t long before surf holiday guests were taking on the park’s notorious flumes and wave pools, with a particular highlight being “The Sinkhole”, a thirty metre slide down into a spinning bowl of water, and “the donut drop”, a sheer drop down one side of the slide before riding up the other side, all while clinging onto a plastic inflatable donut (and trying not to scream).
Nevertheless, for all the water park’s attractions, Biarritz was set to be the main event. With all surfers dried off and ready to party, the evening started at the town’s historic lighthouse. There, guests made the most of a Bastille Day food festival, filling up on moules frites, crepes and sangria before embarking on the town’s infamous coastal path around the Port de Pecheurs. Voted one of the most romantic walks in the world, the route lead the group past the beach where surfers from California first brought the sport to Europe and round to the town’s historic fort.
There, any complaints about having to hike up the hill were quickly dispelled by a sunset that can only be described as spectacular, even by Star Surf’s standards. A panoramic view of the azure blue sky slowly changing to pink, then mauve before the sun dropped into the waves of the Atlantic Ocean set the scene for an evening at “Festival Big” on Biarritz Plage. Buzzing from the sunset, partygoers crowded the world-famous beach and soon, a full contingent from Star Surf got the dance-floor started, rivalling even the gorilla-dressed dancers on stage as smoke and lasers filled the air, and keeping it going until even the very last cries of ‘One last song’ had subsided.
However, sadly, even the French can’t host a party all night and the party was over all too soon. So, in the early hours of the morning, with feet sore from dancing and ears ringing from the music, the group made its way back to Moliets, ready to be up bright and shiny the next morning for more surfing, more sunshine and more adventures…
Until next time, keep surfing!
Morwenna & the Star Surf Camps Team Moliets
