Have you been to a proper beach?

[Nicknamealguem]

I am fortunate enough to live in one of the sunniest country in Europe, with a great coast line and a Mediterranean climate. And since I live in the central coast, (Lisbon, Metropolitan area - South bank of Tagus river), I get the best of both worlds - warm summers (average 28ºC) and soft winter (average 12ºC). I live in a mere 15 minutes (bike/car) from the beach, which I go often in the summer, and even to have a walk in sunny winter days.
Snow is a bit more difficult, since it's only possible in the winter and not everyday. The best place to see snow is in Serra da Estrela, a long 3h/4h drive from where I live. I never managed to see snow, but I did managed to see it snow for one or two minutes where I live, in a very very rare event. And even then, it was just a little.

Closest beach to me - Praia do Rei

My favourite - Portinho d'Arrabida (30/45 min drive)

Serra da Estrela

 

[CoolStory]

Guilty of being an introvert so I'm not much of a beach fan, but the swimming is awesome

 

[Callum B]

Well if I want to go to a beach I usually travel half way across the world to Mauritius seeing as Bridlington and Cleethorpes don't really cut it
Snow we get properly for about a week every year and that's it.

 

[mattythedog]

I live in the UK, it never actually gets to 20 degrees long enough to warm the water. Our nearest resort is Weston-Super-MudMare, the only place in the world where the difference between low tide and high tide is half a mile....

Goring-on-sea has a pretty huge difference between low and high tide too. I love that beach, although my nearest one is Brighton, which is 100% pebbles. And always cold.

 

[CinnamonOD]

5 minutes to go to the beach (anyways the water is very cold) and hour and a half to get to the mountains (if you know the way )

The only time I've been in a proper beach was one time I've been in Acapulco, in southern Mexico, I also have been in Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlán and Cancún, but I couldn't enjoy them because everything was a mess with those springbreakers

 

[C-ZETA]

Being part Croatian and therefore having to go on holiday there every year, I'm rather lucky in that case.

And of course, being part English, there is now always a bout of snow at some point in the winter.

 

[PeterJB]

When at uni I live 5 miles for Bognor beach, that's if you'd call it a beach since it's only pebbles. Back at home the nearest proper beaches are in Cornwall, a good few hours away. Snow is inconsistent though it's been regular in the past few Winters.

 

[Apok]

I live in Slovenia, so the situation is similar to Italians and Austrians. The Beach is an hour to two hours away for me and that gets nice and warm in the summer.
And as for snow... well let's say that I have some shoveling to do tomorrow.

 

[JAHHAJ]

I can go to the beach the nearest one is in Sidmouth which is 10 miles away from where I live. Snow isn't very common round here, it only happens a week or two every year.

 

[MarinaDiamandis]

We get snow almost every year, and this place is like my second home;

 

[zedextreme8177]

For beaches...




<------------------------------

But when it comes to snow:

 

[Carbonox]

I have once been to a beach that could be labelled as proper. It was in the middle of summer though, at other times it would probably be too cold to swim here.

 

[Small_Fryz]

Some really lovely beaches in this thread 👍

I find it quite interesting to hear about how each country is different when it comes to climate and things.

Why is it that Australia doesn't have snow through towns and what not? Are we not further enough south? I don't think anywhere in Australia has frozen lakes / ocean.

And @ daan, that was an awesome read

 

[Grayfox]

Some really lovely beaches in this thread 👍

I find it quite interesting to hear about how each country is different when it comes to climate and things.

Why is it that Australia doesn't have snow through towns and what not? Are we not further enough south? I don't think anywhere in Australia has frozen lakes / ocean.

And @ daan, that was an awesome read

Because Australia is hell, why do you think the British dumped the convicts here?

To have fun in the snow?

 

[NissanSkylineN1]

The snow here in Ontario can be a beach sometimes.... makes you want to go to the beach.

 

[cgr-10]

.

 

[RTSolvalou]

This the beach I can go to, it goes for ages in the other direction aswell, with the road running parallel. I don't like the whole 'going in the water at the beach' thing though. Walking ok.

 

[Shaun]

When I was a wee lad that landed in Aus the only beach I had seen until then was covered in Pebbles.
As most of Australia's population lives on the coast the beach life and Aus kind of goes hand in hand, every summer as kid I spent most of our weekends at a beach.

I'm close enough to many great beaches along this stretch and before it.
Funnily enough I don't really go to the beach to swim anymore but more often than not if we have overseas visitors I'll still take them along the Great Ocean Rd just to see the sights.

There is a real surfing culture around some parts here and our most famous beach in Victoria is probably Bell's Beach due to a rather large surfing comp running at Easter.

Thing is in winter the water is really cold and only the diehards venture out there like these guys.

There's a tradition here of a Christmas day swim in the sea at a place called Ouaisne Bay. It usually involves a couple of pints at the Old Smuggler's Inn on the beach before a quick strip and run into the water. I've done it once - jeeeesus that put me off doing it again. You definitely need the pub bit first... and after!

Strange that you mention that but would you be surprised that down here we have an annual race called the Pier To Pub for obvious reasons.

Cheers Shaun.

 

[Ellis]

I live just off the lake district in cumbria, so snow ain't to far. And beaches. Many many beaches I have been to. Gambian being the best one

 

[MoLiEG]

Cancún, Acapulco, Huatulco, Playa del Carmen, Puerto Vallarta...

I've been fortunate enough However, between my last 2 trips to the beach there was a 4 year's wait...

As for snow, I've never seen it. I'm not fan of cold weathers, but I'd like to see snow at least once in my life

 

[Diego440]

Oh look, I made it to the beach again this weekend!

The water was kinda choppy, so going in with a drink in your hand was quite the challenge. In the last pic I'm using the beach as a urinal, while maintaining balance and not spilling my drink (see, I'm no noob, daan). It was the 2nd bottle of rum by then.

 

[CheersMate]

I love the beach, but unfortunately there is no beach close to my area.
The nearest proper beach would be at the north sea, but it´s not really warm.
So you have to travel to italy, spain or portugal for a proper beach
(I guess thats why so many germans fly to Mallorca and occupy the island )

On the other hand, we don´t have any mountains either and get rarely snow.
It began to snow on friday, but the snow is already gone.
(I had some great drifting fun on the weekend )

So i pretty much live in a very populated area with no beach, no mountains or any kind of "great" nature to have some fun outdoors (hiking, biking, swimming etc)

When i lived in Australia in 2010/11 , i went to Scarborough beach at least every second day.

 

[Solid Lifters]

I used to surf 'The Wedge'. It's a place legendary for HUGE waves that break very violently. Only bodysurfers and bodyboarders allowed, most of the time. Because the wave is too choppy, wild and breaks in about a foot and half of water to allow surfers, plus it's just too crowded on big days. If you're not good enough to surf there, they throw you out. If you don't get out when they say, they arrest you.




I also surfed the other side of the jedi. A beach called Corona Del Mar. Not the best place to go for surfing, but was great when a storm hit and the surf was big. BEAUTIFUL beach, too!



But, my usual surfing spot was Huntington Beach. It's where they have the big OP Pro surf contest every year.

 

[Mrs. Famine]

2 minutes walk from me:

It is usually beach. For it to be snow is very rare but we do get at least some snow on an annual basis. In fact, weather reports suggest it's on its way right now!

 

[Pupik]

If I want snow, I've got to hang out at the frozen food department of the local grocery store. To paraphrase Keke Rosberg: At Fort Lauderdale, Florida...the mountains and snow are not so nice. On the other hand, when I went to school at FAU, I'd take a three-hour lunch break between classes at a rather quiet beach (two days a week).

But I've trudged though snow one afternoon , and came home to weather in the 70s on the same night, thanks to my latest job.

 

[Small_Fryz]

Nice beaches 👍 and Diego , Rum, beach and babes

So from what I can tell, North QLD Australia is very similar to Miami Florida then. Lovely beaches, but no snow in sight.

 

[SPhilli911]

I live in a snow covered, depressing, pit of a town, but for the last few years I've been going to tropical/ warm weather places for the winter season. Caribbean/ Florida, and Melbourne previously and next week I'm going back to Australia and Hawaii right after that. 👍

 

[Omnis]

How the hell do you even surf The Wedge? You either go into rocks on one side or head-on into another wave crashing into you from the north. Looks like a death trap or at least a painful experience.

 

[MK1 MR2 lover]

How the hell do you even surf The Wedge? You either go into rocks on one side or head-on into another wave crashing into you from the north. Looks like a death trap or at least a painful experience.

I bodyboard it on days when its not so big, all you gotta do is get over the top before it doubles up

 

[Solid Lifters]

How the hell do you even surf The Wedge? You either go into rocks on one side or head-on into another wave crashing into you from the north. Looks like a death trap or at least a painful experience.

It's a whole lot of fun, though.

And yes, it's a death trap. Two people trying to take a picture while their feet, and just their feet, where in the water. They were both sweeped away bythe very powerful current and drowned when a wave came in on the shore.