Shifting Sands.

Today’s a better day. We’re blessed by a weekend visit from Daniel and Solveig, so there’s lots to take my mind off other matters - and thank you so much for your sympathy and understanding following my medical appointments this week. Your kindness is very much appreciated.

We don’t venture far from home today, taking time to chat and enjoy each other’s company. We do, however, walk down to the beach to look at how the massive ‘Sea Defence’ work is progressing. 

I think I’ve only mentioned once before  the work that’s going on along our shores, where one million tonnes of sand is being used to extend the beach area from the east to cover the entire bay. This sand is being dredged from a ‘designated quarry site’ beyond the wind farm out in Liverpool Bay. Twice a day, the dredger docks within our bay and a mixture of sand and water is pumped through a 1.5km pipe, gushing out onto the shore where water drains leaving the sand to be  spread along the beach by a small army of excavators. 

The work is now just 10 days from completion, and soon there will be a smooth crescent of golden sand where once the beach displayed a variety of sand and rock - coastal landscapes frequently blipped by me in last year’s lockdown. I’ll miss this beauty, and I’ll miss the winter storm waves crashing against the sea wall - just as I’ll miss looking down at the gulls’ feeding frenzy as the tide turns. But apparently this work is being completed as part of a coastal defence system, the gentle gradients of the sands dissipating the sea’s power. And aesthetically, the plan is to improve the promenade and seafront for both residents and tourists - so perhaps I should leave my objections aside and embrace the changes…….

Whatever my views, the engineering feat is certainly impressive. 

Today’s main shows an excavator alongside a section of the pipe, incongruous amongst the flocks of rather bemused seabirds, with extras of the dredger, the water and sand mixture being pumped through the pipe onto the beach, and a collection of heavy machinery on the sands. Needless to say, these sections of the beach are cordoned off for safety!