Hello me dears. with London going through it's third heatwave of the year my thoughts have have taken me back to the lovely seaside trips I used to have with my family over 50 years ago.
My home town calls itself Britain's Ocean City. it does have a rich maritime history, a stunning waterfront, and the UK's first National Marine Park. It also has it's own beaches but nothing to compare with these nearby beaches which we visited often.
The twin villages of Kingsand and Cawsand on the Rame Peninsula In Cornwall. When I was young my family used to catch a ferry to this beach which always made it special. Famous for it's Smugglers and the fact that until 1844, Cawsand was in Cornwall, while Kingsand was in Devon.
Bigbury-on-Sea and Burgh Island, Devon. Burgh Island is a tidal island At low tide, you can walk across. When the tide is in it submerges the sand, the only way to cross is by riding the famous high-wheeled Sea Tractor. The island is also famous for its Art Deco hotel with connections to Agatha Christie. The beach itself is the most wonderful golden sand and is probably my favourite.
Whitsand Bay, Cornwall. Features dramatic cliffs and a three miles long sandy beach popular with surfers. Accessible mainly via steep cliff paths
Talking of Surfing next is Fistral Beach Newquay Cornwall the home of British Surfing. In case you were wondering, it was a 'New' Quay in the year 1439 when Edmund Lacy Bishop of Exeter built a new quay to help land pilchards. Cornwall was under the dioceses of Exeter until 1876 when the Diocese of Truro was created.
Slapton Sands is a narrow strip of land and shingle beach which separates the freshwater lake of Slapton Ley from Start Bay in Devon. Idyllic in the summer and a very scary place to be in the Winter Storms. a crucial World War II training ground. In 1943, 3,000 residents were evacuated so Allied forces could use the shingle beach to rehearse for the D-Day landings. On April 28, 1944, German E-boats attacked the fleet during 'Exercise Tiger', killing 749 US servicemen in a tragedy kept secret for decades.
Hope you enjoyed my little trip down memory lane.
Toodle Loo
and
Pip Pip.
Even when I was living in Plymouth, I never got to visit Burgh Island and its Art Deco hotel, which is a shame - but I have no intention of ever going back down there just to visit it. The beaches of Cornwall in particular are beautifully golden with soft sand. If only there were any beaches like that closer to London... [Southend, like Slapton in your post, is just shingle, and Brighton's all pebbles - neither particularly appealing.] Jx
ReplyDeleteSlapton is shingle but such a dramatic back drop.
DeleteThe Burgh Island Hotel is £635 a night for a basic double room.
Jon - how about Camber Sands? A very strange place, but a lot of sand!
ReplyDeleteI have been to Bigbury-on-Sea, but never to the Island - I think it’s a bit pricey to stay at the hotel.
I like going to Clovelly; risking life and limb at DuckPool; and I like wandering around Lynton. I used to love St Ives, but it’s too much of a tourist trap these days. I think my favourite beach is Porthcurno, followed by Kynance Cove.
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It's funny - I've been to Eastbourne, and also Folkestone and Dover (only for ferries or Eurotunnel, admittedly), but never the bit in-between (Hastings, Bexhill, Rye - where Camber Sands is - nor Dungeness). Jx
DeleteI know nothing of North Devon and can never get my head around that places in Cornwall like DuckPool are not only north of Exeter but more or less on the same latitude as Chard in Somerset.
DeleteWe have done the odd beach in Essex perhaps it's time to try the Kent coast.
Rye is nice, and Hastings has its nice bits. Then there’s also Battle. I read that Margate has gone up in the world - that was where Dreamland was, wasn’t it? Margate and Broadstairs had some old fashioned ice cream parlours back in the 80s - I doubt they’re still there. Dungeness is curious. Lewes used to have a fabulous antiques centre.
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Mapp and Lucia by by E.F. Benson was set in the fictional coastal town of "Tilling"Based on the real Sussex town of Rye. We love the 1985 TV version with Prunella Scales as Mapp, Geraldine McEwan as Lucia so a pilgrimage would be in order at some point.
DeleteOnly if I can get the right hat. Jx
DeleteThose are some lovely beaches. I've only been to Cornwall once many years ago, but I didn't spend much - if any - time on a beach there (well, not that I can recall). I do remember sea gulls the size of small aeroplanes when I visited some seaside town, though. Huge. And terrifying! (But all those tourists on Fistral beach are even worse.)
ReplyDeleteYou had every right to be terrified. Some sea gulls are not only massive but vicious. The Great black-backed gull is the largest gull in the world, with a wing span of 5' 3" or 1.6 meters.
DeleteIt will eat almost anything and it can and will swallow a whole rabbit down in one. Let's me honest if it wants your chips it's going to Have them.
They have few predators, but may fall prey to sharks and killer whales while at sea.
The best defence is an open umbrella. It acts as a physical shield, ensuring the gull strikes the umbrella instead of your head.
What glorious spots!!!! I have always loved the seaside....and as I get older, me thinks I should move to a seaside locale when I become a dowager. Even now when we leave our beach location when on vacation I get a bit depressed. Just something about the smell and sounds of the ocean that are a comfort.
ReplyDeleteI am with you with every word of that but sometimes we just have to make do with old father Thames. It is tidal as it flows through London so technically it is coastline !
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