These last few days sure have been volatile, in regards of the weather. It's relatively warm outside already early in the morning and the sun peeks in from the small gap between the curtains, but you can be sure the weather has changed to bad and back to nice again by the time you finish your morning coffee.
The clouds were gathering, but it was still warm, when I poked out my nose this morning and thus, the plan was hatched to head out of the city, to look for the sun and a nice spot to dip my feet in the water somewhere.
Swimming in cold water and get a dose of nature while you're at it - it's where all the buzz is at. Plus it's a great excuse to get out in the age of screens.
First stop, Lake Klooga. Weird that I've been to the areas surrounding the lake - the ruins of Klooga Manor, the military hangars on the other side of the lake, but never to the public swimming spot on the parade side of the lake.
This place has been cleaned up nice, they've brought in more sand, clothing booths, outhouses, they've build a floating bridge for fishermen and swimmers, but already, due to the proximity of the town of Klooga, there are signs of depreciation.
Weathered boards, benches. Someone had pushed over the trashcan further by the barbeque spots, some minor trash could be seen lying around. This is what you get when nature and it's servants cannot handle the hordes of people visiting it. This might even not be intentional - things happen with a sample size large enough.
It was nice here at Lake Klooga, but we were not ready to settle down just yet. Now that we'd seen the place, we made note of this place for the future and headed a bit further ahead, towards the Laulasmaa singing beaches.
"Singing beaches?", you ask. Laulasmaa, meaning "singing grounds" in translation, has a specific type of sand, where, if you correctly slide your feet over the sand, it will make a kind of squeaking sound under your feet.
Now at Laulasmaa, as it features a nice peninsula of Lohusalu, you can visit two different beaches. There are varieties, but the gist of it is - the north beach has clean water, sand dunes, but often colder water, while the south beach is more accessible and has warmer water, more rocks and often stronger winds, which is why the south beach also is home for the surfers.
I'm not a big fan of accessibility, I love walks in the pines towards the sea, this is why I mostly choose the north beach.
This time though, as we approached from the other side, we decided for a brief walk in the forest near the surfers beach.
The sun was lacking and as we got closer to the beach, we were lucky not to be blown off by the strong breeze dancing on the sand. Hyperbole, to be honest, but we decided to seek shelter on the other side of the peninsula, as we had plans to sit on the beach for a while without sand in our mouth and eyes.
The north beach was perfect. The sands failed to sing under my feet today, but I'll be back for that.
Even managed to get my swim in the cold water. Well, the water was not as cold as in the winter, but surely not more than 10 degrees Celsius. Further away I could see some people with dogs, and while dogs are known to enjoy a swim even in cold water, this time they stayed respectfully behind the border that was created by waves hitting the shore.
Lake temperatures are already hitting the high teens around here, but the seawater was freezing my knees off and making my feet numb before I managed to get to deep enough water for a swim. But no pain, no gain. The payoff for swimming in cold water is increased health and a high that lasts for hours if you're lucky. Natural medicine at it's best.
The weather was rapidly changing and we had to pack our gear and head back to the car. We headed back home in pouring rain. We got what we wanted, so rain on. We can't have sun everyday, but we can decide to make the most of every day.
