When you’re staying at Star Surf Moliets our famous French surf camp, hitting the beach every day and spending half your time talking about what the waves are doing, the waves you caught or the epic wipe out you had, to say that there’s more to life than surfing might seem a little unbelievable. Partying, day trips and yoga aside, life at Moliets surf camp revolves around the Atlantic Ocean, and it’s not uncommon for some campers to turn up to breakfast already raving about how good the surf is after an early morning session.  

It’s also not as if life in Moliets isn’t active enough. Whether you’re skateboarding into town, challenging your friends at ping-pong or, obviously, heading down to Moliets-Plage to go surfing, more often than not you’ll finish each day feeling like you’ve been hit by a train. Besides, although Sarah and Eva’s yoga sessions will more than adequately soothe your aching muscles, let’s be honest, going for a run is unlikely to be high on your list of priorities for a surf holiday.

Nevertheless, it definitely should be. Because even if you’re not an experienced runner, you won’t regret bringing your running trainers on your surfing holiday with you. In fact, while it goes without saying that there’s no single best exercise for surfing other than surfing (surprise surprise), interval training while running is widely recognised as one of the best ways to boost your endurance in the water.  Add to that the mental benefits of being able to just put on your trainers and go, and the opportunity to work out some of the muscles you won’t use in the water becomes surprisingly tempting.

So where should you go? Fortunately, Moliets has a whole host of different routes to explore, and these are just some of our favourites:

The Lake (7 kilometres)

Easily the most popular run/ walk among staff and guests, the inland lake of Etang de Moliets makes an idyllic route for a workout.  Just one mile inland from Star Surf, the off-road trail has workout points dotted along the route for more determined athletes, while the sight of the water shrouded in mist easily makes even the most arduous early morning run worthwhile and the picturesque old town of Moliets towards the end of the route makes a pleasant change to the hustle and bustle of the main beach resort.  

Messanges (10 kilometres)

Star Surf Moliets is a busy place at the best of time, but for the surrounding forest it’s a different story.  If you want to escape camp or take a break from the waves, a run to Messanges could be exactly what you need.  At approximately 10k, it may not be for the faint-hearted, but, skirting round Moliet’s second inland lake, Etang de la Prade and with only a few gentle, undulating hills, it’s certainly worth it.  

The Beach (Up to you!)

With Moliets Plage making up just a small part of Landes’ 400 kilometre long coastline, no blog post on running would be complete without mentioning the most obvious place to run; the beach.  It may be more challenging than road or trail running, but the strength enhancing qualities of running on sand can vastly enhance your running and leg strength…and that’s without mentioning the ever-changing views that characterise the little stretch of beach that Star Surf Moliets calls home.  

After all, where else can you run past surfers of all abilities, waves of all different sizes?  Or a skyline that boasts a whole palette of colours, from hazy purples to azure blues to spectacular pinks, mauves and magentas?  Or, quite literally, choose to run for miles, off into one of the most breathtaking sunsets you’ll ever see?  

The answer?  …Only in MOLIETS!