Unstad Beach
An Arctic Beach
I might love a wintery beach even more than a warm beach. I really love weather and a beach during winter is particularly dramatic: waves crashing, wind howling, so many elements meeting. Unstad was a dramatic site, located in a valley completely enclosed by snow covered mountains.
I had never heard of this place, but apparently it is something of a surfers’ destination. A pair of surfers were already out when we pulled into the parking lot, and parked next to two motor homes. This would be a dreamy spot to park a camper for a few days.
I’m not sure why (if you know let me know), but massive mounds of kelp were washed ashore. While Toby surfed fridgid waves, the rest of us played on the beach. I climbed up and down the mountains of kelp, looked for shells and of course, picked up the few pieces of trash I found.
And then a storm rolled in…
After an hour of playing around, I noticed a weather front that had been sitting patiently out at sea began turning grey. At the same time, the wind picked up and began transporting it towards us. I started walking back to the van, but from the parking lot I saw a little church a little farther down the road. I hurried down the road for a quick look.
As the storm met the beach, we all made it back to the van. Passing around the coffee we had brought, we sat in the warmth and watched the storm engulf the beach. The still from a clip below shows just how dark the clouds were. After a little while, we turned the van around and headed into the little town of Unstad for a little gander around.
There is a very cool spot called the Arctic Surf. It is a surf school, hotel, package deal kinda establishment with a really lovely cafe. We didn’t stop for a coffee because some of the guys were impatient to move along, but I would recommend a coffee and cinnamon roll here if you find yourself in Unstad.
