After an enjoyable private course on Friday – we finished standing in a field looking at Orion, the Plough, Cassiopeia and, of course, Polaris – it was time for a family outing to West Wittering beach early on Saturday.
I adore the Witterings in winter, the barbecue and beach towels may have to stay at home but it is invigorating to get blown along on miles of abandoned sand. In between games of hide and seek amongst the beach huts, games of football on the sticky sand and races to pieces of seaweed, I noticed some interesting patterns in the sand.
This photo shows how there tend to be broad ripples parallel to the coastline itself, but closer inspection reveals more subtle patterns and these can be used to decipher the action of the water and therefore yield more clues to direction. The ripples of sand fan out over the small hills that…
The Gooleys are now back from a weekend’s camping in the isle of Purbeck, Dorset. This is a photo I took of some lobster pots stacked up on the beach at Lulworth Cove. Something more substantial and less wannabe arty to follow at some point. Perhaps.
We spent the weekend on Alderney. We went there to muck about on the beaches and we were not disappointed. The water is still fresh at this time of year, but I cannot think of an island with better beaches.
In this photo that I took ten days ago of Totland Bay Pier on the Isle of Wight, there is a lot of blue. We become used to thinking of the sky and sea as blue, but in this picture it is easy to see how varied the colours can be. There is gradual shift from blue to off-white in the sky. In the sea there are three quite distinct bands, dark blue of deeper water, green-blue of shallow water and then light brown as the beach itself becomes visible through the water. There are also two other darker shades, where the groyne can be seen underwater and the thin shadow of the pier itself and finally the thin white strips where the tiny waves are breaking.
