Scotty, bothy, deep fried dobby

Hills, valleys, rivers, forests and lots of winding roads, that’s the road to Thurso East! I was buzzing to be heading across the Scottish border, and heading north on the final stretch of The Endless Winter road trip.

On the way up it was ace to meet Scottish pioneer Andy Bennett  and see his archive of shots from early surf-trips. His pictures from the 1981 European champs held at Thurso were classic.

Heading on through the highlands it was a familiar route, my mind always wanders to the movie Braveheart and how hardcore it must have been to survive in those times up here!

I always feel a little excited when arriving at Thurso, so many good times have been had there, in and out of the sea. The weather charts looked pretty wild, with little windows of potential to get some waves. That first window came on our first morning, so Mitch and myself were up in the dark  to catch the right wind and tide and had a real fun session with hollow ones. It’s been a long summer in Cornwall so I was buzzing to get barreled!

Over the next couple of days I competed in the UK Pro Surf Tour event. Its the comp all the boys want to perform in as it’s almost always held in good, powerful waves and this year was no exception. The comp was won by Micah Lester (see vid below).

Straight after the contest it was a traditional night out with the surf tour boys in Thurso. Sadly the legendary Skinandi’s (the most northerly nightclub on mainland UK) was closed, but a cracking night none the less.

The next day it was as if winter had announced its arrival. A series of stacked swells marching across the North Atlantic giving us our opportunity to score some epic waves, the search was on! Always an exciting time…