Thurso

Thurso trips are always a last minute scramble for me. They always involve my friend Hugo calling me frantically, shouting something along the lines of “yeeee boi okay lets do it lets lets goooo!”

Our first trip as kooks (i’d still say we are kooks, just a bit less so), involved battling a snowstorm in the Cairngorms where all we could see was white in front of us. We made it, barely, after 10 hours.

Another trip, we slept on the floor of a guy working at the nuclear plant and got horrendously drunk with his friends. Surfing with a hangover is always a strange mix of dread and excitement. Any UK surfer knows though there is no better hangover cure than the North Sea and that first hold-down from a big set.

On our most recent trip, A 10 ft, 20s period swell created some real beauties in a range of head -high to triple-overhead waves.

I love going out in waves like this and seeing the stoke in people’s eyes as they get barrelled out of their minds. The crowdedness led to some fierce altercations between some locals and some Cornish visitors. I also saw someone take a cereal bar out his wetsuit. Whoever you are, I salute you.

Thurso is an amazing place and you really feel like you are on the edge of the world. I am mesmerized by the idea of how many years perfect waves rolled over the reef before us Scots discovered surfing.

In this modern world, we always want to be in control. We want to know what we are doing with our days, with our lives. We want to be achieving things, progressing, moving forward.

I think I love surfing because you abandon that sense of control. The waves break when the waves break. The sun sets when the sun sets. Certain breaks are better on a high tide, so that’s where you go. The sea is charge, you’re just chasing.

I used to hate being held down by waves, but I don’t anymore because for that moment, all you can do is wait until you reach the surface. No control. I quite like that.

The North Coast has a storage allure for a central belt tourist.It’s still Scotland, but more dramatic, more powerful and oh so rewarding when you get it right. You can surf perfect waves abroad, but it doesn't compare to the feeling of getting perfect waves at home.