The Seaside

It’s strange but somehow things always feel better when I’m beside the sea. I’ve always loved the seaside, this is a legacy of my parents who always took us on holiday when we were children. The seaside was always the destination. Either Blackpool, Scarborough or North Wales. 

As an adult I’ve carried on this tradition if you will, and we nearly always had our main summer holidays by the sea. Every year we would have an holiday (usually abroad) but always by the sea. I guess when you have a love of Greece and the islands in particular, its hard not to holiday by the sea. The sea in Greece always seems crystal clear, blue, but always bloody marvellous.

Without getting to heavy I do find that being by the sea helps with a clarity of thought, allows me to put things into their correct perspective and order. I’m finding that this year being on a high rock in The Peak District has the same effect. As you’ve probably realised this weekend I was beside the sea. 

Cleveley’s Beach Front

I originally set out to take some images of the two lighthouses that are at Fleetwood. As I drove along the M55 I decided that I would go to the seafront first before going to Fleetwood. Not that there isn’t a seafront at Fleetwood, but I had a memory of a long beach road and good walks. 

Not really sure exactly where to go the road signs made up my mind. Anchorsholme the sign said and that’s exactly the direction I headed. The good thing about my satnav is that it gives a good wide view, and I could see the roads ahead all took me to the sea front. As I emerged onto the main sea front road, I knew exactly where I was. A quick right turn and onto the beach road I was. To my delight there were very few cars, so parking was not a problem.  

Parking fee paid, big coat on, off I went onto the beach. It was windy, very windy but it was really sunny and there were blue sky’s. Lots of dynamic range in the colours let’s see how my camera would cope with the big difference in the highs and lows of the light. I needn’t have worried.

I took over 45 images on my walk around and it’s not possible to show all of them in one blog post, but hopefully you will get a sense of how good the seafront is now along this coastline. 

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I’ve seen quite a few images on Google of what is known as Mary’s shell, and as I walked along the beach I caught a glimpse of something that looked like it could be the said shell. I think this is a terrific idea, art of the sea front! It’s good for the local artists to get noticed but it add’s a certain something to the beach. I really like it.

The shell in question is made of (I think) steel. It’s bloody huge when you get up close to it and you’ve no chance of getting it to your ear!! Thankfully the wind had put off people and I had the opportunity to get close to it without having to dodge people. I know it’s a public place and free for all to see but sometimes people just don’t give a shit about what others are doing and just get in your shot!!

I really like the colours and reflections on this image. The light catches on the greens of the moss (or maybe its seaweed), either way it adds to the colours. As I stood looking I spotted that there was a nice shadow from the direction of the light and I think this adds a little to the overall image. I will definitely be going back to this location. This will look great with the sea around it and a moody sky behind it.

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Clearly the council have been hard at it for years making sure that the sea does not erode the land. The sea defences here are not just lumps of concrete, they are made functional into various things. There are places to sit, places to eat your lunch, places to shelter as well as some great moulded shapes. The usual big doors that keep the sea off the roads are also in evidence, but these are tastefully incorporated into the design. I really like what’s been done here.

In my day the handrails where rusty lumps of metal, held together with functional bigger lumps of metal, with a design of sorts as an after thought. We that’s not what you find here. Those who know my photography style will know I love a good line. It’s true I admit it, I love lines. As I walked along the promenade I was struck by how many lines there are, a dream location you might say. The handrail here are ultra modern and very much in keeping with the ascetic of the design. There are lines everywhere, but what caught my eye was this huge sweep of rail that takes the eye on a journey, in this case ending with a view (albeit very small view of Blackpool Tower).

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Rock pools where a fascination for my mother, she loved them. She would always have a bucket and spade and go have a mooch about in rock pools on any beach. I’m sure she would think that this beach front is very modern and clean but I’m sure she would approve of what I found on the edge of one rock pool.

Who knew that Buddha lived on Cleveley’s beach front. I had a double take as I walked along. I saw what I thought was a big figure sat next to a pile of boulders. Down the next flight of steps I went and to my huge surprise there sat there like Buddha was a sculpture. This is absolutely terrific that dotted amongst the beach rocks are sculptures, it all adds to the sense of fun and culture that I feel is trying to be established here. Not just kiss me quick hats here anymore!

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A respite from the wind was found in the form of a café serving delicious coffee and I had to remind myself of why I had set off to this location in the first place. The Fleetwood lighthouses.

I’ve made a list of quite a lot of lighthouses that are within (relatively) easy reach from where I live. Although it may well be that I go and stay on the Cumbrian coastline for a few days and capture the lighthouses that I’ve spotted on the map in that neck of the woods. I know the lighthouses at Fleetwood aren’t traditional functioning lighthouses from the many visits I’ve made here in the past. The location of parking is also easy as you can park pretty much next door to both of the Fleetwood lighthouses. 

I’ve decided that I’m going to make a Project out of Lighthouses but I’ll include an image of one of the Fleetwood lighthouses here for completeness. You will find that random pictures of lighthouses appear in future blogs before I finally publish my project but watch this space for updates as that progresses.  

Talacre Beach Lighthouse

For those who might be geographically challenged, the Talacre Beach Lighthouse, is on the Point of Ayr, which is on the peninsula at the top end of North Wales coastline. Its maybe 10 miles from Prestatyn. 

I’ve had 2 aborted attempts to take photographs here, the most recent one was after a friends birthday weekend in Prestatyn (socially distanced of course). Each time I was beaten back by the horrid weather. A positive forecast caught my attention, and the decision to head there this weekend was a simple one really. This is a location that is easily accessible and will mean that I can capture the different seasons and weather relatively simply. 

I parked my car in the tourist car park. I was put off the beach car park by the sign that said it was liable to flood, at high tide and two huge pools of water where enough to make me beat a retreat. The guy who who attended the car park was a lovely bloke, we chatted for quite a few minutes and that really is the good part of getting out and about with my camera. 

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Around this area are lots of paths, walks even. These all meander through and around the large sand dunes. There are several routes onto the beach and within a few minutes I was striding purposefully towards the lighthouse. Complete with a young family and several dogs. 

I won’t bang on about people being inconsiderate to photographers as this is a public beach and is of huge interest to the kids and adults alike. I decided to try to wait and see if I would get a chance to take images without anyone clambering over it. Some hope.

What you will all know already is that a beach is an everchanging canvas. It’s never quite the same twice, constantly renewing itself. The lighthouse, though, I suspect will always have some pools and streams of water around it. This is the very nature of a man made construction on a nature constructed beach. 

These pools all add to the ever changing canvas that is taking images og a lighthouse on a beach. The sunlight lights up the lighthouse and the water, add this to a blue sky full of white fluffy clouds all provides one view of a lighthouse in good weather. 

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I can image the construction of a lighthouse presents engineering challenges, and one that is a never ending story of renewal. The defences of the lighthouse all add to the mystery of the lighthouse and provide adults and kids alike the opportunity to clamber onto things. The lighthouse here at Talacre is not manned and therefore the approached are not maintained to quite the standard they would be if there was regular footfall back and to. 

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It wasn’t long before my gaze started to wander to other parts of the beach, and in particular the sand dunes. Sculpted by the wind over centuries these dunes are a delight to explore, but are murder on the legs when scrambling up them. I’m sure if the dunes could speak there are some stories that they could tell about what goes on within the undulations out of sight of the other walkers. The mind boggles.

The dunes off up useful foreground as a frame for the lighthouse and my eye was drawn to several compositions that included both. Eventually I took this shot, with grasses out of focus in the foreground and the top of the lighthouse in good focus. Good use of depth of field if I do say so myself. 

As always with my adventures my stomach starts to remind me that I had only had a bowl of cereal that morning, so off I went in search of lunch. I found a lovely beach front ice cream shop that did a wonder cup of coffee. That would do until I found lunch.

It’s a recurring theme with me these days but I will definitely be back to this location.