It should be an outdoor bed
Two days off, no obligations and the great desire to go to the sea. And, according to the weather forecast, a starry sky at the North Sea. The best conditions for sleeping on the beach! Well, it was winter, but that shouldn't stop us from our plan. At the coast we expected milder temperatures because of the proximity to the sea. So on 17 February 2018, we packed our two simple metal beds (at that time, there was no prototype of the SkyHeia, nor had we thought of the name yet) into the boot and drove to Wassenaar on the Dutch North Sea coast.
We had been looking for such an opportunity, because we wanted to finally put our plan to develop a new outdoor bed for cosy outdoor sleeping into action. For a long time we had thought about whether we should first find like-minded people for sleeping outdoors, i.e. build up a kind of "outdoor sleeping community", or whether we should dare to invent a bed for it right away. In the end, we decided to develop a special outdoor bed because we were convinced that comfortable outdoor sleeping would otherwise involve too much effort.
For this project we needed a symbolic kick-off and now was the opportunity - sleeping on the beach in real beds!
Arrived at the beach of Wassenaar, the Wassenaarse Slag, we first had a look at the Brasserie De Badmeester we strengthened ourselves with traditional Dutch food (Frikandel Speciaal met Frietjes) and toasted to our plans. Through the window of the brasserie we saw the setting sun - no sign of clouds far and wide. The waitress was visibly irritated when we asked her if it was possible to sleep in the dunes and only said that we should be careful not to get into trouble with the Coast Guard, because sleeping on the beach was strictly forbidden. But I think I could tell from her look that she didn't really take our question seriously.
We build beds and sleep on the beach
So we set up camp for the night a bit off the beach, just before the dunes. Fortunately, we didn't have to carry the metal beds far, but screwing them together in the dark took us half an hour, despite the headlamps. Looking back, you understand how pleasant it is to have an outdoor bed. like the SkyHeia is assembled in two minutes without tools!
We constantly have new stories and information about sleeping outside for you. We won't send you emails with trivia, we promise.
Luckily we had thick duvets and extra winter sleeping bags on board, because there was no sign of the expected mildness of the sea. But once we were in our beds, it quickly became comfortably warm and the view of the starry sky was breathtaking! Where in summer the haze rising from the sea clouds the view of the stars, now it was crystal clear and the air was pure and fresh. With our "sleeping caps" on our heads, we soon fell into a deep, restful sleep.
Frozen sand and cold coffee
It lasted until the next morning, when the first rays of sun lit up the sky. The first early risers were already on the beach with their dogs or jogging to warm up. We only noticed now how much it had cooled down during the night: the sand was covered with a shiny white layer of ice and frozen hard! However, we hadn't noticed anything of the cold (the temperatures had dropped to around -3°C at night) (except in our faces), but slept comfortably warm.
We then dismantled our camp for the night and wanted to enjoy breakfast in the brasserie first. However, we had to wait an hour for coffee, because the water pipes had frozen during the unusually cold night and the brasserie first had to organise water in canisters to get the coffee machine going. But after such a great night's sleep on the beach, that little bit of waiting couldn't dampen our happiness.
Nights like this - dreamlike location, unclouded view of the stars, unusual experiences like the freezing cold - are real highlights of sleeping outside. And even though it was an extremely short "holiday", it was still a great respite for the soul from the stress of everyday life.
And we had our project "Outdoor Bed" ceremoniously opened.
