Botany Bay, Margate at dusk

A first! A late evening swim at Botany Bay. Also our first sea swim of the year. Today was the last day of 30c temperatures in Kent and we hadn't been for a swim this year. The tide was against us, high at 10.00am, low at 4.26pm and high at 10.27pm. When the tide is out there is a wide rocky foreshore and very shallow waters for a long distance.

The solution was to go late this afternoon, park, walk to Broadstairs and back and arrive at Botany Bay at around 7.30pm. It worked a treat. A pleasant 6 mile round trip to Broadstairs and back, punctuated by tea at the Pavillion on Viking Bay. Back at Botany by 7.15pm to a beach that was quiet after the bustle of the day.

Several months of cold morning showers had conditioned me to get straight in. No dallying around gradually aclimatising. Splish, splash, bosh. In.

The sun was setting over the chalk cliffs and leaving a golden streak across an almost perfectly calm sea. A quite magical half an hour and, as I said, the first evening swim.