This morning I ran along the beach to the port under a rising sun and alongside a murmuring sea. The beach is broad and the sand fine and it is easy to see why this place became a resort. However, at a discreet distance from the beach is a massive sea wall, and this speaks of a less placid sea; the then village of Scheveningen was damaged and sometimes entirely destroyed by storms in 1470, 1570, 1775, 1825, 1860, 1881 and 1894. It was after the 1894 storm that the villagers decided to build a harbour. Until then, they had fished from flat-bottomed boats that they would drag up the beach. There are very few traces of the fishermen’s village now. Scheveningen is a part of The Hague and pretty much built up. The sea front now boasts an esplanade and double rows of shops and boutiques stand where the bomschuiten were once dragged.