Wednesday 11 June 2008

A walk on the beach


Last night I took Custard for a walk along the beach.

The beach with its pier - once the second longest in Britain!

This is the former end of the pier, with what used to be a cafe now sitting all alone, nearly a mile out to sea. The pier was badly damaged by a storm in the 1980s and the powers that be decided to demolish it rather than fix it. A bad move, I think.


Part of our offshore wind farm. The smaller things are further out and are called "The Forts". They were build during World War 2 and had anti-aircraft guns for shooting down German bombers as they flew up the River Thames to bomb London. Later some were taken over by pirate radio stations.


We have a lot of beach huts here. Want one? It will cost you around £8,000 - say $15,000?


We pebbles on our beach, so shoes are very useful. My kids call these my "crazy-man shoes".


Our sunsets are supposed to be some of the best in the country - something to do with the sun shining through the pollution over London.


On a good day, like this one, you can see the town that is on the other side of the Thames Estuary. These buildings just seem to rise up out of the sea, sometimes you can see them sometimes not. Perhaps it is really Atlantis. If so, is Patrick Duffy there?

17 comments:

terri said...

$15,000 for one of those huts? They don't look much bigger than a garden shed!

Your crazy-man shoes are called Crocs here and they have been all the rage for the last couple years. They've even developed a winter variety with some kind of fleece lining.

The beach sunset is really amazing. I wish I lived near a beach. We have lots of lakes and ponds but no beach in close proximity.

Jenelle said...

Ahhh, the beach. Even if it is pebble lined, I'm still envious. Those are some fabulous shots and the powers were foolish to not rebuild.

Claire said...

Thanks Rock Chef for showing us your world - I love the photos - and as an inveterate rock collector (especially heart shaped ones) I love your beach - we consider it a special day when we find even little stones on our beach - we do have a good amount of shells. As far as I'm concerned any beach is good!

mr zig said...

Awesome post! I love when you post photos! Thank you!

Rock Chef said...

Terri - You are right - my garden shed is BIGGER than one of these things. But as they say, Location, Location, Location!

Janelle - I guess I am a bit ungrateful - towns a few miles away have wonderful sandy beaches, but it is better than nothing. Glad you liked the pictures.

Rock Chef said...

Terri again - Oh, we call them Crocs too, when using the proper name. Crazy-man Shoes just sounded so funny at the time that it stuck.

Claire - Hah, we are pleased when a rough tide clears away enough pebbles for us to see the sand underneath! We get some shells, mainly oysters, cockles, whelks, that sort of thing.

Zig - Thanks.

terri said...

I almost forgot to mention that I've decided we are kindred spirits based on the fact that we both remember "The Man from Atlantis" and the fact that Patrick Duffy was the star. Although I'm guessing I probably had a bigger crush on him than you did.

Rock Chef said...

Terri - When he was on Dallas I still thought of him as The Man From Atlantis! And, no, I didn't have a crush on him.

terri said...

I figured as much. You probably were more in favor of.... what was her name?.... Charlene Tilton?

Rock Chef said...

Terri - Did a web search which says she was Belinda Montgomery - good hair!

Kimberly McKay said...

Hoooow beautiful! Man it would be nice to visit. My roots can be traced to England and Scotland. Some day I want to take a trip with my family.

PS...love your crocs you crazy man!

Rock Chef said...

England AND Scotland? That is a bit dodgey, English and Scots are famous for not getting on very well! Which do you favour? ;-)

kenady said...

Gorgeous photos! Thank you so much for sharing them! They would look great framed in a series w/ the photos in the order you posted them. Love the crocs!

Sitting In Silence said...

Those sure are some beautiful photos....

What do people put in those huts? are they like cabins or more of a storage area ?

Rock Chef said...

Kenady - I am sure they would, but for now I will have to leave the photographic wizardry to you!

Sitting in Silence - The huts vary - some just store people's beach equipment, other are more like cabins with little kitchens with gas cookers (using propane cylinders), which makes it all rather exciting when vandals set fire to them!

Chachi said...

Awesome pics! You do have very beautiful sunsets. So are alot of those little huts rented out or do you buy them and are they very big?

Rock Chef said...

Chachi - The huts are owned, mainly by locals but more and more by people from London to act as a base for day trips. You are not supposed to sleep in them. Most are around 6 feet by 8 feet, a fancy garden shed!