Instead of our usual Sunday walk in the forest, we decided today to head for the seashore for a walk. Sunny March winter days are really nice, there’s already a promise of Spring in the air but you can still enjoy winter activities. It’s always surprising how fast the days start to get brighter after the long and dark winter.

We started our walk from the Matinkylä beach in Espoo. There were a lot of people enjoying the sun: skiing, kite-surfing, ice skating, riding bikes.. There was very little snow on the ice so it was perfect condition for different winter activities on ice. As we are in Finland, there were of course also people swimming in the ice hole.

When we started the walk there was quite crisp wind and it felt like winter. But when we continued walking further to the sea, the weather changed. We decided to walk around Varsasaari island.

When we got to the other side of the island, we discovered open sea. We had to land on the island and walk by the shore as the ice was too unsafe to walk on. We decided to sit down on the rocks and listen to the melting ice. Have you ever heard how the ice sounds like, when the thick ice rafts  press against each other and the rocks? They make quite spooky sounds!

The ice looked like a beautiful jigsaw puzzle. I cannot wait to be able to go stand up paddling when the sea is finally completely open!

Walking on the ice in the winter is great fun, just make sure to watch where you are going and take ice picks with you if possible. Next time I’ll make sure to pack some sandwiches and hot chocolate, having a picnic in the nature is a great way to relax.