Monday 7 December 2015

Winter beach - Bloemendaal

We went for a walk to the beach in Bloemendaal on Sunday. I had dreamed for a while of going to the beach and looking how the winterlife is there. Because we did not have any other program on sunday, it was finally possible to drive to the beach. I had a big visions how nice it would be to walk there and admire the view. It was not so peaceful as I thought.


The reality was VERY WINDY. I still have sand in my ears and all over my face. It was hard, salty, natural beauty peeling. My daughter started to cry right away, because the sand flew right on her face and it was almost impossible to walk against the wind. I had to have another walk later alone while she was with my family inside the beach cafe having a hot chocolate.



You can't really see how windy it was from these photos(I wanted to  attach a video here, but the video did not work on this site). It was a struggle to move forward, but walking back was easy when the wind was blowing from behind. It was also difficult to hear or talk out there. Some brave people were doing some sports on the beach. Riding a bike very fast near the water, supported by the blow. Horse riding, windsurfing..these people were enjoying the challenge. After a warm drink my daughter went for a another walk and this time she was enjoying it. I think she was first shocked and scared of the hard weather. It was a good experience after all.






The almost empty beach is totally different compared to the busy summertime. Only this one beach pavilion was standing there and open for the customers. In the summer time there is many restaurants and beach clubs in a row, but in the late autumn they build down those temporary houses and move them away. Next spring season they will come back and make everything cosy for the summer.










It looked so empty outside, but this beach restaurant was totally full when we got in. Nice, warm, relaxed and cosy after making a big round on the beach. The contrast between the raw weather and the warm beach club was the trick. Almost like going to sauna after swimming in a cold lake. After getting warm we were ready to have a second walk. We had a nice sunday after a busy saturday when my daughter got her swimming diploma, my son played his second rugby-game, we had a wedding day and a traditional dutch "pakjes avond"= gift evening(Sinterklaas brings gifts with his helpers called "piet"). 



Have a nice week!