Surfing the roads of Western France on a longboard!

in #travel6 years ago (edited)


These were my holidays this year. I mean the real holidays. I try to do something like that at least once a year, where I go on a little adventure, solo, far from everything.

This year, I went surfing, but not the waves, no, I went surfing concrete! 

The sensation Longboarding gives me is very close to that of snowboarding. This is why I got so hooked when one of my students made me try a year ago. 

Check the 2-minute video that summarizes my escapade, it's fun to watch (click on the picture above).

I covered 6 locations:

But before that, I needed a new board. So I assembled one with the parts I wanted:


Now, well equipped for my adventure, I traveled to my first stop: Forges Les Eaux where I discovered a nice country side cycle track.


Then I headed towards Tours, to Savonnieres, a village that borders the River 'Le Cher'. There is a beautiful cycle track that follows the river. And it was quite amazing to longboard there:


Next Stop was Bordeaux, where I visited my family. I rediscovered my home city under the eyes of a longboarder. A great place to have fun, including in the urban areas! I also initiated my family to longboarding. My little niece really impressed me how she handled the longboard (I had brought my second board with me.)


After this family reunion, it was time for me to head South to St Jean de Luz, where I invented a new sport: Grass surfing! That was a lot, and I do mean, a lot of fun!


After riding the lawns of Ste Barbe (that's the name of the hill I surfed, North of the bay of St Jean de Luz), I headed back North, to Maubuisson. It was a cool beach resort to ride:


I completed the ride with a trek: Le Porges - Andernos, back and forth. That's close to 40km on a longboard. The tracks were so smooth, and the landscape so breathtaking, I could have easily done 40 more!!!


But it was time to go home...

I lived something quite unique, a new sense of freedom, that neither a car or a bicycle can provide. Surfing my way across beautiful French landscapes, make me want to discover more places with the eyes of a longboarder . Any suggestion of great countries to try out next year?


Hi,
I’m @muphy (see
intro post),
My life revolves around music production, teaching sciences, and discovery through travel.
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Whilst you were surfing in France, I was hiking in the US canyons (we just started a trip summary on our travel blog;) ). Glad to see you are back! What are your plans for the fall?

Hi @Lemouth

I checked it out. Quite a trip. We should combine, and surf these roads and landscapes on a longboard!
I am glad you could live a real adventure too. I came back totally refreshed, and am starting now to resume my usual business. Yes the Fall is arriving with the new scholar year. Your question is a good one, as it makes me reflect further than a few days ahead!

Now, I am preparing the tuition schedule for my students (most have already started school). The plan until the end of the year is to resume my teaching activities (paid lessons and Openschool), complete and publish the music projects initiated during summer, produce a new online course on Udemy (have you checked the one I produced in July. https://www.udemy.com/mathematics-for-high-school-physics. I should write about it on Steemit) and finally, optimise my house, lol (domestic tasks take me too much time! ). And of course, continue longboarding when I need some fresh air!

Sadly, I have to prioritize, I am considering giving up the patch of land I rent where I was exploring permaculture. It just required too much maintenance and took me sooo much time this year. My small backyard will have to do. As for Steemit, I will probably not be very active in the near future, just posting from time to time... unless I find a more effective way to write articles while keeping the quality at its highest (1 science article is 10-12 hours work). Any suggestions on how to do that?.

What about you? What are your plans for the next few months?

Wow... At a point there I wish that was me! What a way to wrap up the holiday. 40km you did. My house to work is about 5km. I was just imagining surfing to work on a daily basis, the positive effect that would have on our environment,curbing excessive release of CO and CO2, especially for us in developing countries if many of us do that.
Nice to have you back my friend.

Wow, what a plan! I can imagine this will indeed keep you over-busy fr the rest of the year. I have quickly checked the Udemy course, and what you point in there is exactly what is badly mastered by students entering university. Trigonometry is hard, vectors are often very obscure and I don't even talk about complex numbers. High school is not what it was anymore, at least in France.

I hope to read from you on Steem once in a while, but I understand time is the problem. The same holds for me, where usually, I post only once a week. Sometimes twice, but this is rarer. I am afraid I have no trick to share here... :/

In my case, I am currently overwhelmed by the new term at Sorbonne. I am the head of the bachelor 2 physics studies, which means I am currently registering students, checking that all courses are smoothly starting, etc... I hope to free some time to resume research in a couple of weeks. I am planning to finish 4 articles this summer, 1 being the milestone of something I started at CERN in 2013. And of course, I will travel for work: Florence (the steemstem meetup), Freiburg, Odense, Daejeong, probably Montreal, Granada, Hefei, Tokyo and Kruger are on the program. And then a Xmas break at home :D

You are quite an over active cookie too! And I was thinking I was the over busy one lol! All these travels in 3 months? wow, that's what I call active! What will you be doing in all these cities? Presenting some latest research, giving lectures?

Yes, I will try to write here from time to time. Thank you for appreciating what I write, this means a lot to me. I guess when the routine is set up with my students (a routine I am currently organizing for this term), and the music tracks mixed, mastered and published, I will go head back into some science fun, which include articles on Steemit. I will probably punctuate my blog with other fun things too.

I am still dazzled on how you manage to continue entertaining regularly the STEM community with your writings, while being involved in so many other activities. it's truly impressive.

Wow... At a point there I wish that was me! What a way to wrap up the holiday. 40km you did. My house to work is about 5km. I was just imagining surfing to work on a daily basis, the positive effect that would have on our environment,curbing excessive release of CO and CO2, especially for us in developing countries if many of us do that.
Nice to have you back my friend.

Hey hey, it's not a competition, relax! :D

Vacation competition? I am all in :D

What a cool holiday! 😀
Thanks for sharing!

Merci:-)! how are the cycle tracks in Ireland?

Well we have the renowned Greenway along the west coast Atlantic way. Fabulous if you don't mind the changeable weather. 😁

On another note I was interested to contact you and a few others regarding a project of mine related to stem and steem. You can contact me directly on discord if that suits you.

Cheers.

Hi, thanks! it seems that google map has passed on it (camera on the head of a cyclist?), so I could simulate a ride there. On the section I tried, the path seemed OK, and the scenery beautiful. Do you know if the full path is concrete or tar, like the section I tried, or are there some sections which are pebbles and soil based (OK for cycling, but impractible for longboarding)?

I will contact you on discord to hear about your project. Be well.

I only cycled a few kms on it with the family and it was kids friendly. Can't remember if it was tar everywhere but definitely suitable for road bikes.
I think the whole cycling way is intended to be family friendly.
Cycling lanes are becoming popular all over the West coast of ireland!

I couldn't find you based on your Steem name. What is your discord ID?

Emerging really, nothing like the Netherlands.
But they are getting very popular around the West coast as the tourism board has realized that it's a great opportunity to attract visitors.

wow you definitely live the life in style during holidays hahah great to see you back and love the post everyone should do something like this in their own way :)

Wow this is so beautiful to see and i loved it :D

wow...This is just amazing!!!

fabulous one.
Very nice i like it
That's really great

One of the most beautiful