Destination Biarritz

‘I come across the six-cylinder Honda CBX on a lazy amble down the festival’s main strip. It’s up on a paddock stand, with two wooden pallets elevating it from the grass-covered ground. I sit on a hay bale and inspect it, my view partly obscured by a constant stream of people – mohawks, leathers, colourful pisspots. Despite being shammied at every opportunity, the bikes on display are also here to be ridden. Occasionally a thudding engine announces a machine being brought back from a sprint or flat track race. Everyone stops to look as a Ducati Scrambler with surf board attachment filters past rows of tents. When headline bikes are that outlandish, subtle custom jobs such as this CBX are largely forgotten about. But they are the soul of Wheels and Waves.’

14 17 June wheels-and-waves.com

Be early to Punks Peak: Ride to the Punks Peak race as early in the day as possible. It’s at the top of a steep, winding hill that fills up from the top. Leaving it late will mean a long, sweaty slog on foot. Leave before the rush, or you’ll be caught in that rarest of events – motorcycle gridlock.