T he sun splashes off the lagoon and I shield my eyes to see the wave rushing up behind me. I’m lying on my big foam surfboard in perfect position as it arrives. “Three big paddle strokes to catch the wave,” is what my instructor, Owen, had told me.
I do just that, pop up and voilà : I’m surfing, arms out, gliding, grinning, sailing, slipping, falling flat on my face, hard into the water. I stand back up, unable to suppress a seismic smile and shake myself off like a wet dog. Owen gives me a high five and a few tips on my dodgy footwork, and I paddle back out to try again.
I’m not on a beach in California, though the kids curving around the promenade on skateboards could convince you otherwise. I’m somewhere much more exciting – in what was, until recently, a disused quarry in Ratho, 25 minutes from Edinburgh city centre, at Lost Shore Surf Resort . This £60m, 25-hectare (60-acre) site is Europe’s largest wave pool, pumping out perfect, artificial waves for surfers of all abilities.
It’s made possible by a wave generator and complex bathymetry, and water is sourced from the local canal, treated and eventually returned cleaner. Lost Shore is Scotland’s first inland surf resort, with luxury pods and lodges, a waterfront bar and restaurant, and a wellness centre. Dog walkers potter past stacks of surfboards, curiously eyeing up the new attraction, while surfers done for the day flail around, yanking off wetsuits (there is no flattering way to do this) and .