The first storm of 2018 arrived when the year was only 3 days old 🙂 and I decided to experience the forces of nature by visiting the beach at Scheveningen. When I arrived, the wind was already strong and there was a layer of blowing sand close to the surface of the beach. A few other people had braved the storm to go for a walk…

The pier was closed, but I had my zoom lens with me so it wasn’t very hard to take photos of the waves crashing over the piers and the two small lighthouses.

The waves were huge and really impressive!

When I got too cold to stand still any longer, I went for a walk on the beach. It was fun taking photos of other people battling with the wind.

Everybody seemed to enjoy feeling the force of the wind!

The lighthouse of Scheveningen, and a layer of blowing sand in the foreground.

I had to take a selfie of the wind giving me a crazy hairdo 😉

Lots of foam was flying over the beach as well…

The storm got stronger while I was there, and by the end there was sand blowing around everywhere. I found it in my eyes (for days!), my ears and my nose when I got home!

The flags at the beach are always impressive – I’m not sure how often they have to be replaced, but they sure get damaged by the wind a lot.

When I was completely frozen and sanded, I noticed a beach restaurant that was open – it was so amazing to come into the warm restaurant with a blazing fire, and order a hot chocolate and a chocolate cake to warm up 🙂

After this treat I drove home again. The storm had been really strong, force 10 had been measures quite a few places in the northwest, while this part of the coast got force 9. I was glad I went out to experience this!