a poolside view

...a quick blip today as I am taking L out for dinner this evening. A dull morning developed into a stunningly clear blue afternoon so, with limited time, I went to Langton with the intention of shooting the second image for my One Street series, however I had forgotten just how low the sun is at this time of year and the harsh contrast between the lower and upper halves of the buildings persuaded me to abandon this idea for a day when the light is more scattered. Time was at a premium because I had left L washing her hair and she was anticipating a speedy return. So, I scooted over to Worth Matravers and ran across the fields to take this shot of Chapman's Pool.

This has long been one of my favourite places along the Dorset coast, which is, in part, due to childhood memories. In those days, the beach was surfaced with a veneer of shale that was a mosaic of thousands of ammonites. It is impossible, today, for any visitor to appreciate just how amazing it was. In the last few decades, the beach has been stripped of most of its geological wealth by a combination of natural erosion and, more vigorously, by both professional and amateur fossil collectors. The collection is not a subject that I get too sentimental about because the tides would eventually have taken them anyway. The topic that really gets me worked up is the rubbish. In this year's beach clean, this little cove produced 206 plastic drinking bottles, 60 household cleaner bottles, 491 pieces of polystyrene amongst a multitude of other debris.

Once again, the view extends through to the Isle of Portland. The high cliffs in the foreground are Houns-tout and the weird blob in the sea is lens flare from the very strong sun.

Must rush...