A ferry ‘cruise’ from Portsmouth to Santander brings the surf, cuisine and mountains of one of south-west France’s most distinctive regions within easy reach
he Bay of Biscay is renowned for its turbulent waters, but as I fall off my surfboard for the fifth time during a family lesson at Anglet, near Biarritz, I realise this is more a case of “user error” than choppy sea conditions. While my husband and I are perfecting our wipe-outs and feeling like we’re trapped in the cold-spin cycle of a washing machine, our 13-year-old daughter is riding the waves like a pro. Her brother, aged 11, is getting the hang of it too.
We’re in the French Basque Country for a week’s holiday, having taken the long, slow ferry route from Portsmouth to Santander in northern Spain. If I’m honest, I’d expected the Atlantic crossing to churn us around, but I was wrong. Our smooth, 40-hour trip is a holiday in itself; like a mini-cruise with excellent food and drink, dolphin-spotting and deck-strolling.
The view from the top is stupendous: in one direction the Basque coast, where we spy the beach at Anglet beyond Biarritz’s headland, and the winding Nivelle River, which meets the sea at Saint-Jean-de-Luz. To the south stretch dramatic undulating hills and mountains that shelter small farms growing fruit and local espelette chillies.
From our baptism in the Atlantic to joining in the pelota rituals, our week has seen us initiated into Basque life. We just have one last treat in store: the chance to bask in the sunshine on the deck of the slow boat home, as the Bay of Biscay proves it can also be kind.
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