In 1897, work began on dredging massive amounts of sand and gravel from Start Bay in south Devon. The material was for the construction of Plymouth docks. Within a few years, locals living and fishing along the beach complained that the beach was receding and that the fishing industry was suffering. Eventually, these complaints were [...]
Archive for February 2007
Storm Surge Leave a comment
He who fights and runs away… 4 comments
We set off from Swanage in a pea soup fog, following the cliffs to keep our bearings. The sea was calm and smooth. As we rounded St Alban’s Head, the fog cleared and we set up camp for the night. The next morning, we woke up ready for the last few miles of paddling to Kimmeridge. [...]
Shorebound Leave a comment
The secrets of the hoarie deep, a dark Illimitable Ocean without bound, Without dimension, where length, breadth, and highth, And time and place are lost. Milton, Paradise Lost.
Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood 3 comments
I spent most of today writing up the Kingsbridge Estuary. This is a tidal ria like the nearby River Dart, except that it has no major river feeding it. It has arms spreading in all directions, but the main channel runs from Kingsbridge to its mouth at Salcombe. Much of the estuary dries at low [...]
Work till You’re Musclebound 2 comments
On a wet and stormy night a few days back, I stayed up late and tapped out a few thousand words for the book. It was good to get some work done, but I also discovered that typing is a surprisingly awkward and uncomfortable thing to do in a tent. My back still feels sore and [...]
River of Dart, River of Dart, Every Year Thou Claimest a Heart… 1 comment
The Dart is well known as a white water river. I’ve paddled it hundreds of times! However, below Totnes the river becomes one of South Devon’s many rias. Last week, Heather and I enjoyed a paddle for the ten miles of the tidal Dart down to the sea. Very nice it was, too. This is the paddle [...]
Evil Under the Sun 5 comments
Burgh Island is located a little way offshore from the estuary of the River Avon on Devon’s coast. The island is connected to the mainland by sand at low tide. The only buildings are a pub and a rather swish hotel, famed for its Art Deco architecture. Agatha Christie stayed here and also used it as the [...]
Experiential Learning Leave a comment
Morte Point is a headland in north Devon, just north of the surf beach at Woolacombe. The name means … well, how good is your French? The Point has a strong tide race and often sees wild weather, kicking up the surrounding reefs. In local lore it is, “the place God made last and the Devil [...]
Moderate or rough, occasionally very rough in west 1 comment
A man who is not afraid of the sea will soon be drowned, he said, for he will be going out on a day he shouldn’t. But we do be afraid of the sea, and we do only be drownded now and again. John Millington Synge
Nor any drop to drink 4 comments
The crossing from Land’s End (the south west tip of Britain) to the Isles of Scilly is nearly 30 miles, heading straight out into the open Atlantic. You cross strong tides at the start, and then two busy shipping lanes. If you are going to attempt this, then choose really solid companions. On this day I was [...]
Asleep at the Wheel Leave a comment
The RMS Mulheim currently resides between Sennen Cove and Land’s End, being progressively disintegrated by successive Atlantic gales. It ran aground beneath the granite cliffs on 22nd March 2003, rudely curtailing its voyage to carry waste to a toxic landfill site in Germany. The Mulheim was sailing under a ‘flag of convenience’ and the competency of [...]
February 14th 2 comments
Did sea define the land or land the sea? Each drew new meaning from the waves’ collision. Sea broke on land to full identity. Seamus Heaney
Triassic Park 7 comments
East Devon used to be a desert, where Dinosaurs with rubbish names roamed. The cliffs behind Heather are red because iron minerals oxidised under the hot sun, 200-250 million years ago. Heather is a scientist and knows about this stuff. I’m not, and don’t. Next week we are off work and hope to spend some [...]
Godwits 1 comment
Keyhaven is a quiet backwater of a harbour at the western end of the Solent. It is sheltered from the English Channel by Hurst Spit, a curving pebble promontory. At the end of the Spit there is Hurst Castle, built for Henry VIII but successively modified to cater for every single war against Johnny Foreigner ever since. [...]
Old Harry’s Wife 6 comments
Old Harry Rocks, taken this afternoon The chalk stacks of Old Harry Rocks point out from Handfast Point towards the Needles on the Isle of Wight, nearly 20 miles away across Bournemouth Bay. ‘Old Harry’ is an archaic name for Satan, and is usually used to describe the stack at the seaward end of the rocks. In [...]
Dark Day Leave a comment
Spring follows winter.
Room with a View Leave a comment
For Sale: Small wooden hut with no electricity or water supply. No overnight residence permitted. Enough room for a deckchair inside, nice views. Sensible offers considered.
White Water Tourist Leave a comment
The south Devon coast between Start Point and Prawle Point is characterised by wave-cut platforms. These are basically bedrock reefs formed when wave action (over millennia) scours the cliffs away, leaving only the base layer of rock, just above the sea level. The platforms are dissected by numerous channels which just beg to be explored [...]
Overdue Books 2 comments
Some of the titles on my desk right now…
Far from the Madding Crowd Leave a comment
Another section draughted, from Kimmeridge to Lulworth. This wasn’t too onerous, as I have been basically rewriting an article I wrote about this coast last year. The photo shows Heather paddling through Bat Hole, a natural tunnel through the monolithic buttress cliff of Bat Head. The cliffs above featured in John Schlesinger’s 1967 film of [...]
