Gruissan is a sea-side town, full of life and the hustle and bustle of people having a great time. We had been there earlier in the day with the children, but had suffered from a windy day at the beach, with sand being flung by the wind at speeds that made our bodies feel like they were being chipped away. The children had enough after about 30 minutes (as had I, to be honest!) so we sat sheltered by one of the food shacks and had some waffles. Through the whole ordeal, I had spotted that the pathway that followed the beach was very smooth and looked ideal for one of my hobbies: Penny boarding. For those unfamiliar with Penny boarding, it’s basically skateboarding on a smoother plastic board with chunkier rubber wheels, allowing you to cruise a bit more.

My friend Callum was getting in to Carcasonne airport at around 7pm (see my blog on La Vuelta) and so having picked him up we drove straight to Gruissan to catch the last of the day’s rays.

The skate was a lot of fun. A smooth ride with the sea to one side and beautiful wooden chalets on the other. People were friendly, saying hello and no one minded us skating around.

The sun had set and we decided to make our way back to our holiday home in Vinassan. As we drove through the town we saw a little marina and decided to turn around and have a bit of an explore. We parked up in a free car park and took a wander down to the harbour. Fancy boats lined the water way and we could see lights and shops open on the other side of the harbour. So we started walking towards the lights, like a couple of moths! Initially it seemed quiet, but with every step it seemed more and more people appeared. The neon lights of shops and restaurants increased with the crowds and there was a real buzz.

Restaurants had their own live music acts, we counted at least 5 different acts, varying from some flamenco style music, to a pretty average Robbie Williams tribute bloke, to a girl doing some originals and covers. We spotted a group starting to play on a stage in a square on the waterfront so we stopped to hear them play. Their music is featured in a skate video we made which you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSOyOxp8J-4

Throughout our walk around the harbour, the water was always to our right, constantly adding to the atmosphere of the town. It was 10pm and families were still out, kids playing and looking in the shops that sold little hand made trinkets, bracelets and other costume jewellery. Local clothing stores displayed their merch and we were tempted to get holiday tattoos from a tattoo parlour (we thought better of this!).

Given more time (we were heading to Spain the next morning) we would have taken advantage of being so close to a bustling town, but I’ll be likely to return to stay in one of those wooden chalets overlooking the sea.