The blizzard and the sea / Le blizzard et la mer
No need to venture far for this blustery adventure! With Ireland in the midst of a snow storm, we stepped outside our front door into a winter wonderland, courtesy of the Beast From The East, and walked straight into a seaside blizzard, courtesy of Storm Emma.
Nul besoin d’aller loin pour cette aventure qui a décoiffé ! Du pas de notre porte, nous sommes entrés dans un paradis hivernal, grâce à la fameuse Beast From The East (“bête de l’Est”), avant de rencontrer un blizzard littoral, grâce à la tempête Emma.
The waves were humongous – high, loud, furious. One after the other, they rolled, crested and crashed over the rocks and the cove that has become our regular wild swimming spot.
The winds were ferocious – powerful, relentless, howling. Whipping across the Irish Sea, they brought a salty icy spray that smeared our exposed faces.
The sleet was fierce – fast, icy, piercing. The oncoming snowflakes drummed on our coats like hail stones, stinging our eyes every time we dared face the stormy sea.
Bring it on, Emma!
Les vagues se gonflaient, énormes, bruyantes, furieuses. L’une après l’autre, elles s’avançaient pour venir s’écraser à grand fracas sur les rochers et la plage qui est devenue notre lieu habituel de baignade en mer d’Irlande.
Le vent se déchaînait, puissant, incessant, hurlant. Balayant tout sur son passage, il fouettait d’embruns salés et gelés nos visages transis.
Le grésil s’acharnait, perçant, glacial, implacable. Les cristaux de glace tambourinaient sur nos parkas comme des grêlons, nous piquant les yeux chaque fois que nous osions nous tourner vers la mer démontée.
Buffeted by the storm-force gale, we moved along the seafront, looking resolutely forward to shelter our eyes from the sleet. Standing with their backs to the sea, Jedi and Squirrel leaned into the wind to test whether it would hold them up. The relentless gusts lifted Mermaid’s blue sled off the ground – “It’s trying to be a kite!”
Only the ornamental bushes along the promenade offered a temporary respite.
On the beach, the storm had blown away all but a dusting of snow from the wet sand.
Ballottés par les rafales puissantes, nous avons poursuivi le long du front de mer, les yeux résolument fixés droit devant pour abriter nos yeux du grésil. Debout le dos à la mer, Jedi et Ecureuil s’appuyaient sur le vent pour voir s’il les empêcherait de tomber à la renverse. Les bourrasques féroces soulevaient de terre la luge bleue de Sirène : “Regarde, elle se prend pour un cerf-volant !”
Seules les plantes ornementales de la promenade fournissaient un répit temporaire.
Sur la plage, la tempête avait saupoudré de blanc le sable mouillé, le vent ayant balayé plus loin le reste de la neige.
Away from the seafront, the unrelenting Snowmageddon meant soft fresh snow and an eerie atmosphere. The main street, usually hustling and bustling with people, looked like a ghost town, its shops closed and its footpaths deserted.
Ironically, the only place open was the little ice cream parlour by the railway bridge!
A l’écart du front de mer, Snowmageddon continuait de recouvrir la ville d’une douce neige fraîche, dans un silence étrange. La grand’rue, dénuée de son tourbillon d’activité habituel, ressemblait à une ville fantôme avec ses magasins fermés et ses trottoirs désertés.
Ironie du sort, la seule boutique ouverte était celle du glacier, près du pont sur la voie ferrée !
Back home at the end of this exhilarating walk, Brian made a pot of hot chocolate with the last of our milk supply, after one last spot of sled-boarding on the snowy driveway.
De retour à la maison après cette sortie grisante, Brian prépara du chocolat chaud avec le dernier carton de lait qui restait, après un dernier tour de “sled-boarding” sur la montée enneigée.
More snow fun / Encore de la neige
- Dressing kids for snow – a quick guide
- Sledding at Powerscourt / Séance de luge à Powerscourt
- 3 easy tips for winter photography / 3 astuces pour réussir vos photos d’hiver
- Look they’re skiing! / Ça y est, ils skient !
- On the slopes / Sur les pistes
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What a great adventure! Those waves were really high. Loved the contrast between the frosty beach and the snow filled street. Thank you for linking up to #PointShoot
How brilliant to live by the sea and experience such spectacular weather! #ExplorerKids
Wow! Tremendous photos Annette. Ireland got the brunt of things. Those waves look fierce. Sarah #ExplorerKids
Great pictures and what a fun way to enjoy the snow – at the sea! #ExplorerKids
oh gosh it was pretty windy and wet wasn’t it! Great fun with the snow though
Some wonderfully wild waves there! It’s times like these that, more than gentle summer days, make me wish I lived near the sea.
I have seen this mentioned in a few blogs. It must have made an impact. The power of nature! #explorerkids
You had so much snow and really looks like you made the most of it. The seas looks so powerful in your pictures. We live on the coast but didn’t make it down there to see the effect on the beach. Our river behind us was beautiful though and the snow was so powdery.
Mainy
#pointshoot
How dramatic is the sea? And scary too! I wanted to drive to the beach and watch the sea and snow but it was just too dangerous. Love your photos:) We had so much snow too 🙂 #countrykids
That sea was truly wild!! I love watching huge waves I find them mesmerising. I am so glad you got a decent dollop of snow to enjoy and have lots of fun in #countrykids
Isn’t it hard to believe this was just a week ago? We have 15 degrees and sunshine this afternoon and I’m in a T shirt, no wonder we talk about the weather so much! It was great fun though, I love the sled boarding, we did the same on our sea surf boards, used the little likes slide from the play area and our one working sledge bought and never used 10 years ago! I had a great time joining the kids though I wasn’t brave enough to stand on the boards like the kids, it was hard enough falling off from a low level! That was a dramatic coastal walk, I love the sea when it is that wild, but thank goodness for the railings to keep it a spectator sport only!
Thank you for sharing your lovely snow day on #CountryKids
Wow that sea looks ferocious and I can only imagine how cold the wind must have been #CountryKids
It looks like you made the most of the snow and the storm. I certainly wouldn’t have gone down the beach in that, far too scary for me! lol Mich x #Countykids
I love the title “The Blizzard and the Sea” it’s very fitting. What a week of amazing snow you had in Ireland! #ExplorerKids
Wow, the power of nature was so strong! We had also snow and freezing weather in Italy but I’d love to be at the seaside to observe it from a different perspective. Laura # explorerkids
Goodness me, I wouldn’t be brave enough to got to the sea front in those conditions! You were rewarded with some stunning, wild views though. There is more snow predicted for this weekend, maybe you will get to enjoy it again #countrykids
Wow! Nature has the power to strike awe within me like nothing else. Those waves and coastal tides look immense. It was certainly blowing a hoolie over in North Wales too. I’m not one to usually cancel an adventure but I had to postpone a group walk I was leading in the mountain of Snowdonia because of 100mph winds! Thanks for joining us on #adventurecalling. I hope you can again when we open for more posts tomorrow morning.
It certainly looked like you had lots of fun exploring and braving the area in the conditions you were presented with. #adventurecalling
What an amazing way to experience the snow and the storm! I’m a bit sad that we don’t get any snow here! #explorerkids
Popping back for #CountryKids
And also because your photos are great, so don’t mind looking through them again! Love how your whites are always so white, I get the impression you take care to do some work with your photos before publishing them. Looks great anyway x
Thank you so much for your kind words! I do edit my photos before publishing them but it is still a learning curve. The trick to making the whites look white, especially where snow is concerned, is to overexpose your shots. I wrote a post about winter/snow photography a little while back, if you’d like to find out more – https://www.fouracorns.ie/2018/01/18/tips-for-winter-photography-astuces-pour-photos-hiver/