First few days...

Last boarding call. Gate K. I am on the wrong side of the airport, this cannot be good.
Sprinting full pelt across Birmingham airport with my bag. Made it. 1 minutes to spare, lucky, more than lucky I say!
I'm not a good flyer to say the least, with my plan in mind, this would be the only flight I make for the entire trip.
Flight touches down in Trieste, north Italy, 25minutes ahead of schedule. 30 degree heat sears down. Get a bus to the centre of the city to find my only pre-booked accomodation for the entire trip. A kind girl welcomes me, this hopefully is a good omen for the trip ahead.
After food and a look around, go to bed early to get a decent nights sleep before leaving early-sih tomorrow.
Next day. With Trieste being so close to the Slovenian border, I intended to go there straight away.
Bus to Postjna, approx an hour, but by the most beautifully scenic route. Booking into the cheapest room in a hostel (which turned out to be a bed in a "family room" where I was the only occupant) I head to the caves.
Shame photos were not allowed, the huge expanses were so overwhelming, mile after mile of stalagmites and glistening rock formations.
The walk back to my place was just as interesting as inside, tree after tree, vast open spaces and great views, just what I have been waiting to see.
Discover I lost my sunglasses in that cave....how?!

Next day. Train at 10.11. The trains over here, it has to be said, impecable timing. Ljubljana today! Stay at the Celisja Hostel. Awesome!
I didn't ever imagine I would enjoy a stay in prison but this place was incredible. Colourful walls, graffiti, authentic bars over the windows still in place and its all in the middle of teh "alternative" centre of town. Loved it, just my scene. Even with a gig that night.
I had previous got in contact with someone through this website called CouchSurfing. I would definitely recommend it. Its a way of meeting local people and others who may be willing to offer you a place for the night, entirely free!
I had got in contact with a member of the site called Pia in Ljubljana. We met up, had a drink, talked about travel etc and she offered me a place to stay for the next night. Brilliant.
Later that night I had time for reflection. To see what I had accomplished so far, the sense of freedom of travelling alone, no ties, was immense. The days are long, which means i'm so disorientated!

The next day, I met with another member off CS called Tanja, she shows me around and we visit Tivoli...its like a park, but massive!
I see some graffiti which I appreciate quite a bit, as long as its tasteful or interesting!
Visited the castle too, stunning view from the top!

Day 6! How has time passed so quickly? Visited Lake Bled. It was the hottest day by far. I had to change at the train station after carrying my bag there. It was packed full of people but this is only a minor thing. I have never see such pure blue water! I went for a quick dip, you don't get many chances to do that.

Loving the time away so far. Things can't get better than this....

The endless magic of Mundaka

So far the road has taken us along the fringe of the Picos de Europa, where the mountains meet the sea and now we are heading towards the Basque country. On the way we stopped of at Bilbao and checked out the Guggenheim Museum which blew us away; a stunning piece of architecture. Getting out of Bilbao had us laughing as we had a taxi/bus escort to the motorway due to our lack of ability to find the Autovia road signs! Finally we got on the N26 heading north on the coast road to Mundaka. It was late in the day so stoped of at Cuchia and found the bar La Parra, a jolly group of lads and lasses from across the world working the season, we had a few jars, a massive pizza and good ol laugh (the word on the street was Mundaka was on for the next day). So up early and the pot hole road lead us through Burmeo to Mundaka. The place was buzzing and the waves were on, the line up however was packed. I guess I have been spolit by the quiet points and beachies of Austurias, but this many people in the water almost made me not get in. As I have passed this wave numerous times before and it was flat, I decided to get amoungst it and enjoy Mundaka magic. I managed to sneak a few long rides and had a laugh with a few other chickaledas in the water. It was well worth the jostle!

The peeling lines of Mundaka and I even managed to sneak a few.

Peace and quiet in Austurias

Trying to find a internet connection has been tricky and the 'in house' charging system has had teething problems, a bit of a tease when there are multiple drive-by Wifi zones on route in Spain! At the moment I'm sitting in a rasta esq bar sipping a ceverza listening to tunes including Will Smith, the Macarena tune and Greece lightning (random). Austurias is awesome and from the ferry port at Sandanter its only 50km. The coast is spectacular, the stars fill the sky and the line ups are empty. We have made it as far as Gijon, though it was raining when we arrived we decided to explore the city, we got soaked but left a whole lot cleaner (the first fresh water in a while!). Gijon is a pretty cool city, we checked out the old town and partook in the traditional - throw cider over your shoulder and hope to find the glass - drinking antics, the tapas in also supremo here and theres tons of it. The surf hasn't been massive, just typical summer swells, although we have been lucky not to have prelonged flat spells. The one flat day we had was at Meron, a forest lined cove with alot of potential, we are definaltly coming back! The swell picked up and we surfed some of the beachies around vega, at a couple of foot Ella was loving the longboard! We are heading back along towards Los Locos and beyond and will hopefully catch a little wave at Mundaka.....I will be in touch.

unlikely

http://www.jettygirl.com/features/unlikely.html
A usually crappy beachbreak in the US serves up some fun waves and a talented crew come together…the most unlikely of places.

Work in the sunny Morocco and surf perfect waves this winter.

Morocco's leading surf travel company, Surf Maroc are recruiting enthusiastic, dynamic and qualified female surf instructors for this coming winter. Successful applicant will work amongst a fun and motivate team Taghazout, Morocco.

Position includes:
Weekly wage
Accommodation & food
Travel expenses
Use of all facilities and equipment
World class surf on you doorstep

Applicants need to be sociable, fun and hardworking and hold a full driving license and BSA qualification. Further details available on application. Please send c.v and cover note to contact@surfmaroc.co.uk


Ben O'Hara
Partner
Surf Maroc

Surf Watch

There are surprisingly few surf apps around for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and most of them are a bit crap (with the notable exceptions of WindGuru and the Oakley surf report). Enter Surf Watch from Tap Tapas; at £5.99 it’s not the cheapest, but I think that’s probably an accurate reflection of the development time that’s gone into it. From the neat little clicks and James Bond-esque sounds down to the thorough help screens and the seamless, uncluttered interface, it’s quality.

Just pick your buoy/s anywhere in the world and you can then view past data including tides, with your top three buoys displayed dashboard-style for at-a-glance checks. But the beauty is the forecasting and alerts. Enter the ideal conditions for surf nearby, and when your criteria are met, it’ll tell you via an alarm or alert between times you specify. Never miss a surf again!

It couldn’t find tide data for any of my buoys which is a bit disappointing as that’s so important in the UK — maybe they need to keep adding data. It’d be quite nice to have a choice of skins as well, but that’s just me trying to find something less than positive to say — this really is a wicked little app. Also, the developer was super-quick with help and advice, which is always a bonus.

So toss out some of the less-than-stellar freebie apps for tide times, buoy data and forecasts, add this, and I think you’ll probably end up using it more than the rest of them put together.

Here is the link for the iTunes store:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=300739477&mt=8

Website with video:
www.surfwatchapp.com

shake weight

All surf girls want nice strong upper body muscles - we're not convinced this device is the way to go about it though!!

Planning?

Ok so yeah hey. I'm Louisa. 19. Student.
So I have nothing to do for 3 months...I know semi-spontaneous backpacking trip? Yes please.
Looking for adventure, new things and change, I booked a flight to Trieste, Italy, for 3 weeks in advance, booked an Inter-rail ticket and that was all I needed.
Thats it. Longing to do many of the things I have heard so much about. A little planning. Pack up and go.
Countries I planned to hit where Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Switzerland and finally France before heading home. Hopefully try some sports and a bit of random adventure.
So thats it, get out there, do it and live a dream.

Surfing Tribe talk

Roger Mansfield, author of best-selling book The Surfing Tribe, will be giving a talk and signing books at the Fistral Beach bar 3pm on Thursday 6 August.

He will give a talk about British surfing legends and when the sport took off in the UK.

More info >>

Northern Spainish Gems

We have been on the road for a week, the surf has been pumping and I have even managed a bikini session. The photo below defiantly wins best surf so far, three of us out, a solid left reef surrounded by high cliffs, perfection! We have been checking out some old Spanish towns and siderias tasting the local apple tipple. Van life has taken us to some amazing free camp spots where the evening are spent playing boules, drinking cerveza and making friends with the local kids. Check out more of the tale at http://www.summersessions09.blogger.com/