I wasn’t sure what to expect from Greece as I’ve never had any desire to go there, maybe it is the lack of surf, but I was pleasantly surprised by the whole experience after my girlfriend booked us 2 return flights to Athens for our first 2 week holiday together.

Athens airport was clean, well designed and easy to get around. We arrived late in the evening and took the metro from the airport straight to the centre of Athens where we were due to stay in an area called Plaka (an old historical part of the city). We stayed in the Student Travellers Inn for 2 nights, figuring that it wasn’t worth staying somewhere luxurious as we would be spending most of our time away from the hotel/hostel seeing the sights anyway.

The hostel was clean, quiet (we were staying at the end of the season) and centrally located in the Plaka area of town, which is close to all the sights including the Acropolis.

The weather was great, low to mid 20s, sunny and warm, perfect for walking around and seeing the wonderful architecture. I expect if you come in the peak summer season it would be unbearable and you’d probably pass out from the heat, traffic fumes and hoards of American tourists.

The sights were amazing and easy to get around on foot for the most part. I would definitely recommend strolling around the streets of Plaka, Monastiraki, seeing the Acropolis, the National Gardens, The Roman and Greek Agoras, Hadrian’s Library as well as the other main sights.

Greek food was a bit of an unknown to me, as I usually opt for nearly anything else when going out for a meal in London, but again I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed all the traditional dishes including salads, souvlaki, grilled meats and  various cheeses. One thing I wasn’t really impressed with was the wine. Maybe we ordered the wrong thing or the cheaper options, but in general I thought Greek wine was crap (I usually go for full-bodied South African, Australian, Chilean Californian or Argentinean reds).

All in all our stay in Athens was amazing and I would recommend a stay to anyone who likes architecture, good food and friendly people.

Rose and I had a great start to our Greek holiday starting with a 2 day trip to Athens. The weather was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky, between 25-27 degrees, we couldn’t have asked for more.

We stayed in the Student Travellers Inn situated in Plaka in the centre of Athens. We walked around most of the sights including the Acropolis, various temples, libraries, columns and parks and got some amazing photos. We ate out both nights and were treated to lovely authentic Greek cuisine.

I didn’t really know what to expect from Greece, but so far my expectations have been exceeded and we are both having a great time. Our next destination is Crete!

This weekend Richie and I hit up a dawn surf patrol at East Runton on the north Norfolk coast. We got up on Saturday morning at the unearthly hour of 5am. We strapped the boards to the frost-covered roof of the car and were on the road for 5.45am. En-route we were treated to a magnificent sunrise, the kind that makes it all worthwhile being awake at that time of the morning.

On arrival we were greeted by a solid 4-6ft swell, clean lines and plenty of enthusiasm to get ourselves into the water, albeit rather chilly.

We surfed for about 3.5 hours and I managed to catch a good dozen or so waves on both the 6′4 and 8′2. It was great to be rewarded with a decent session with some size after driving all that way and also after surfing in Devon earlier this year in quite poor conditions. I think I might have overdone it though, as I was shivering uncontrollably as I got out (took me the rest of the afternoon to warm up).

I took a few photos before we jumped in the water, all of which are on Flickr, check em out!

Rosana and I are off to Greece for 2 weeks on the 15th Oct. As a surprise anniversary present Rose booked two return tickets to Athens. I was stoked and touched with the gesture.

We are going to plan our itinerary over the next week and book up some accomodation. All we know so far is that we want to go to Athens and Crete and possibly one or two other islands.

I am looking forward to a little late autumn sunshine, taking some pictures and enjoying the scenery, architecture, food and drink and hopefully our first successful holiday together (if things go well we will book up a trip to Brazil early next year for possibly 4-6 weeks - serious surf time me thinks).

Countdown has begun!

I returned a few days ago, from what could be described as the wettest holiday in Devon I’ve ever had. We had 1 full day of sunshine and then the rest was either showers or heavy downpours, which put a rather large dampener on the whole thing.

The waves were a mixture of 1-2ft clean lines and 3-6ft storm surf. We improvised and managed to use every board in the quiver from the 8′2, 6′4, 6′2 to 6′0. Richie even got stuck in and bought himself a brand new Tiki 8′4 Megamal and has now he renewed the stoke!

I took my Canon EOS and my new EF 55-250mm telephoto lens and got some pretty nice shots. Check out the a few of them on Flickr.

Hopefully as we move into autumn we’ll get some more sizeable and cleaner sessions, wonders will never cease!

Not many wave shots this time due to 2 factors: 1 not having a good enough zoom lens (yet) to get any close up action and 2. we were in the water all the time and had no one to take any pictures of us (the age old dilema).

Anyway here are a few scenic shots of a moody sunset over Fistral beach. More on my Flickr.

I am sitting in the back of my car trying to occupy myself whilst Beej drives us back from Cornwall. We have spent the past 4 days surfing in Newquay and have had a mixed bag of both weather and waves: a few sunny days, some rain, plenty of wind and varying degrees of small, fun summer waves.

We surfed Great Western (one of the town beaches in Newquay) due to there being too much of an onshore wind at our usual sport over at Fistral. This time we controversially left the 8′2 mal (a.k.a Mitch) at home and packed a 3 board quiver: 6′8, 6′4 and 6′0. The idea was that it would force us to step up our game a little (the longer your board the easier it is to paddle and catch waves). There was swell predicted for the entire week, so we felt reasonably confident that we were making the right decision.

On arrival on Friday morning, we we rewarded for our efforts with a nice clean, fun wave over at Newquay Bay. For some reason I surfed very poorly, I just couldn’t find my flow, and had a rather crap session despite the good conditions. Beej on the other hand was all over it, like a hoover sucking up every possible wave coming within earshot of him. End of day 1, 1:0 to Beej.

That evening a celebratory trip to the Indian summer was the order of the day after 4 hours in the water and the 6 hour drive. We supped on a few pints and then relaxed with a post-meal DVD.

We awoke the next morning to Malcom’s bell ringing and a quality breakfast. Day 2 was characterised by more of the same, although this time I found my flow and grabbed a load of waves, forehand and backhand on the 6′4. Beej bought a new board but managed to put the leash through the tail after about an hour (what a shredder), so that had to go back to the shop. I think it must have been the busted board, but Beej didn’t really get his groove on after returning from the shop, so the score at the end of day 2 was 1:1. That evening we settled for a couple of Strongbows, some fish and chips and another DVD.

The 3rd day, still with new board at the shop, Beej and I hit up a mid-to-full tide Great Western. The waves were a bit thick and dumped a little bit on the beach. The latter half of the day the wind got up and things got pretty choppy. We ended up surfing for 4 hours and called it a head to head heat. Later in the evening we stopped off at the Fort Inn for a massive platter of Surf and Turf and a couple of Guinness’. Bon!

The morning we left, Beej was still without a board after the shop not being able to get it fixed in time for our departure. So after a little stressing and some careful negotiation with the owner, Beej managed to wangle a deal that meant he could swap the broken board for a new one: a rather nice 6′4 Lost short board (that I had my eye on).

Following the “upgrade” we had to test out the new board, so we headed over to Fistral for a “quick” surf before we returned to Essex. The waves were a little bigger that morning, maybe 4ft and a lot thicker. We both got a couple of good rides before the conditions turned to slop.

We left Newquay having had a good time, but as always for me (am not sure about Beej) I wanted more: cleaner, longer and bigger waves. So although my appetite was satisfied for a few days, I am still as hungry as ever to get out there and continue to explore new places, feelings and styles. But there is no rush, as Gerry says “there is always another wave around the corner”.

Beej and I are off to surf Newquay (and the surrounding area tomorrow). We are going for 4 days (taking Friday and Monday off work). The forecast (see below) looks reasonable, plenty of swell, hopefully the wind won’t blow it out.

We just need to decide which boards to take (the age old dilema), hopefully there will be enough swell to merit using my shortboard. As much as I love using the 8′2 Mitch, I really fancy getting a little more technical and speedy, rather than using the usual cruiser, we’ll see!

Watch this space for some nice lomo-style photos (and maybe even some video).

Beej and I had a great time down in Newquay for a few days surf. The weather on Tuesday was amazing: sunny skies, light offshore breezes and a decent 3 ft wave to glide along.

I spent 3 hours solid in the water (overdoing it as usual) and then got out absolutely exhausted (I had got up at 4.45a.m and driven 6 hours to Cornwall). In the evening we chilled with a few bows and some fish and chips and then checked out the sun setting over Fistral beach.

The next day started off sunny, but then progressively clouded over. We hit the water in the morning and although the swell had dropped off and the water was a little cooler we still got a few rides. We then chilled out on the beach for a while and then hit the water again in the evening for another couple of hours. By this time the swell had dropped off again, but we still had a good time.

That evening we hit up the Indian Summer and got stuck into a hearty meal and a few beers to reward ourselves for our efforts. The rest of the evening was spent watching about 10 minutes of Raiders of the Lost Ark, before passing out for a well-earned rest.

We returned on Thursday and faced a mammoth 6 hour drive, which went relatively smoothly, until we hit the M25 and got stuck as per usual.

All in all, it was a good mini break, although I would have liked the waves to be a little bigger and more consistent, but good times all the same. There are a couple of snaps below from the trip.

Last weekend Ben C and I took off to the South West of England to (try) and enjoy some wave action down in Devon. We’d booked in at the Chapel Farm in Croyde a few weeks previously and were hoping for some warm spring conditions with some decent, uncrowded waves. What we got instead was freezing temperatures, howling onshore winds and shitty weather.

We made the call to go anyway, regardless of the conditions, as we had paid for the accomodation already, so had nothing to lose. As it turned out, we had a cool time, eat some nice breakfasts, took in the beautiful Devonshire countryside, had a few ales, games of cards and a load of laughs.

We eventually got into the surf on the Saturday, having found a slightly more managable and less messy wave at Saunton Sands. So fully kitted up: winter suits, gloves, boots and surf bonnets we hit the waves. Surprisingly we were quite warm and last 2 hours. BJC said, and I quote, “those are some of the best rides I’ve gotten on the UB”. I was stoked that he was stoked, and moreso as now he has surfed in cold water he is a.) not phased by surfing in the cold and b.) more likely to want to go again now he has got some decent rides.

Here are a couple of shot of team “surf bonnet”.