Beach life…
Beach life…
21 September 2021
It isn’t just what’s in Camelford that makes it a great place to live, it’s also the access it brings to the rest of North Cornwall. Just popping down to the beach is something that I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of. Of course, Camelford doesn’t have its own beach (mostly because of the fact that its 5 miles in land!), but there are so many on the doorstep.
When our friends stay with us one of the first things they ask is ‘when can we go the beach’? Which one to choose though? There’s almost a beach to suit every mood. Each visit is slightly different, with the variety of tide, season and weather. In winter we go down and there’s nobody else about other than a few other hardened dog walkers or even more hardened surfers. We take our little dog who never seems to like playing in the waves as much as we’d like. The wind whips up great waves that crash endlessly on the almost deserted beaches and its just so peaceful. They say there’s no such thing as bad weather just the wrong clothing and it’s true. Wrap up enough and not even the biting winter winds can penetrate.
But go to the same beach in summer with the sun high in the sky and it is awash with life. Kids, adults and everyone in-between having a great time filling the beaches with different sights and sounds. There’s families determined to squeeze every last drop of fun out of a warm summer day. Claiming their bit of the beach with borders of sandcastles, tents and picnic blankets. The sounds of kids crying with delight as they splash about in the cold Atlantic waves. And then crying 5 minutes later as ice creams are dropped and melt into the sand. Endless amounts of sun cream rubbed furiously into exposed skin, hats protecting against the beating sun. The thing that always makes me smile is the small children running back and forth to the sea fetching buckets of water – convinced that if they carry enough they’ll be able to create a real moat around their increasingly elaborate sandcastles.
I don’t really have a favourite beach or even a favourite season. Perhaps though I do have a favourite time of day. It’s at the end of the day when everybody has gone home and as the sun goes down. Just watching and smiling as daylight slips away and marks the end of another day in North Cornwall.
