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Friday, January 12th
I woke up with strong back pains and in a generally exhausted condition. The view outside on the Cote des Basques did not help to improve my mood. Sure, it had almost stopped to rain, and the wind had dropped, but it stayed numb and wet. The swell was still solid, way to solid for the breaks in town. I needed a breakfast in a warm room, so I walked along the coast and into the town centre and into a bar near the market hall.
Café au lait and a couple of Croissants helped to cheer me up and when I left the bar, even the rain had stopped. I walked down to Grand Plage and spotted one brave soul surfing out in the solid but not very well lined up waves. Paddling out into these raw waves under grey skies and in more than chilly air temperatures is probably the exercise and mindset needed to be prepared for the Atlantic winter.
The ocean stayed hostile despite the odd holes which now appeared in the clouds, letting a few sunrays light up the town. I walked back south along the coast and new the old lighthouse got another lesson of how to deal with the winterly ocean. A few women wearing nothing but swim suits just came back from an ocean swim. Swimming without wetsuits alone was a tough thing in these low temperatures alone, and for me seemed close to madness in an agitated ocean like this.
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