Skating on the Ocean - Bjärred Beach (16-Jan)

We didn't want to travel too far this weekend as Kris' back was still a little sore, but we wanted to get out of the house.

Our friends from Lund had recently visited a popular Swedish Beach called Bjärred Beach, about 30min north of Malmö, which had mostly frozen over.  This sounded pretty cool, it was close and it might give the kids a chance to try out their ice-skates away from the crowds in Pildammsparken.

When we got ready to leave, we knew it was likely that the beach would be still frozen - it was -7 degrees and the car was giving some signs of the temperature...

The car's bumper bar

The ice patterns on the windscreen where pretty cool (and Kris thought so too - that's her on the other side of the car taking a photo from the drivers side, while I took one from the passenger side..)

My window

The drive was uneventful and we got there in 30 minutes.  It was pretty cold when we got out of the car - definately, glove, beanie and jacket weather:

Kris gearing up - No, gloves go on your hands...

The kids were having fun before we even got to the beach - they ended up sliding down a pile of snow (which turned out to be a thinly covered pile of rock - ouch!) and having a snowball fight in the carpark:

Alana gathering ammunition

Direct hit!

Revenge in 3...2...1...

For some reason Cameron decided to roll down the path from the carpark...

Cam rolling..

Our first view of the beach was pretty cool - there was a long jetty leading to a Swedish bath/sauna (its a tradition to spend time in the sauna then jump into the icy cold water, then return to the sauna) and a popular restaurant.

Alana and Tom testing the ice

I thought it was pretty cool (pardon the pun) to find sand under the snow:

Sand under snow

and even cooler when I found ice - we were standing on the ocean:

Ice

One of my favourite shots of the day was this long shot showing Cameron and the ice behind him.  The birds in the background are all sitting on the ice and there is a ship out to sea further back:

Cameron, birds and a ship

The water was frozen around the legs of the jetty:

Ice around the legs of the jetty

Kris and the kids found a nice patch of ice to do some break-dancing on..

The ice

I managed to get a few decent panoramic shots of the beach and jetty:

Panoramic shot of the beach

And another of my favourite shots - it did get busy later but it was quiet when we first got there:

Alana on the beach

The we started along the jetty:

Tom and Cameron starting off

The family

Kris and Tom

The birds were obviously enjoying the ice:

Bird Tracks

Footprints in the snow

Kids watching the ice

The boys enjoyed kicking snow off the jetty and watching it land on the ice below:

Snow on the ice (Courtesy of Tomas)

There were lots of bird either standing on the ice or looking for a meal in the warm currents:

Birds taking off

Swans

Swan looking for a meal

Panoramic view from the left of the jetty

One of the warm currents where the ice had melted

There was an interesting bit where the ice had formed over some seaweed and the water was lapping just below the patch of ice:

Water lapping below the ice

Almost at the end...

This next photo isnt the clearest shot - but you can see the Turning Torso in the background (the tall tower in the middle of the shot) across the bay:

Turning Torso across the bay

This is a little better focussed and less foggy - the torso can be seen as the tall spike in the distance, slightly right of centre

At the end of the jetty the water was still frozen, but only a thin layer:

End of the jetty

The sauna and restaurant

After making it to the end of the jetty, we headed back to the car to fetch the kids ice-skates so they could have a try.  Along the way we bumped into Travis and his family and this playground:

Tomas spinning

He was having fun

While Tomas tried out the spinner, Alana and Cameron tried the big see-saw (once they worked out how to both get on....

How do I get on?

How do I stay on?

Finally we managed to make it back to the car to get the skates and then back down to the ice.  In Alana's words as we removed the guards from the blades, we were ready to "Unleash the sharpness"

Unleashing the sharpness - eventually.....

Our ice patch was the one they had previously danced on.  It was mostly flat but the kids did managed to find all the bumps:

Our ice patch

Still waiting to unleash the sharpness..

The kids were pretty hesitant at first but they had a lot of fun.  Alana started slowly but was pretty close to the correct technique by the end of it.  Tomas got the hang of walking on the blades quickest but only managed a few slides.  Cameron had some awesome crashes and was moving pretty fast by the end.

Standing up is hard enough...

Tomas was first to unleash the sharpness, while the others were still trying to stand

And the first to crash

Alana was pretty unsure at first....

But then Travis helped her out and she got the hang of it

Cam went straight to the centre of the ice patch

And crashed

But it was still fun

I tried to take a shot of Alana when Tomas photobombed with an awesome crash...

Are my legs supposed to go like this....?

But it's safer up here...

The snow is that way!

Cam turned a crash into a chance to make a snow angel - Which Tomas was pointed out as he wanted to destroy it (and did about 2 seconds after the photo was taken)

Alana (almost) got the hang of it.

Panoramic of the beach (full 360 degrees scan)

Then the storm clouds moved in and we could see more snow on the way so we made a move:

Snow incoming

Travis and his family went on to Helsingborg but Kris was starting to feel a little sore from the cold, so we headed back home.

All in all it was a pretty awesome day - I never thought we'd have a chance to skate on a frozen ocean and everyone had a lot of fun.