Seaham is located on the Durham Coast of the North East of England. There were three deep mines here – which reached out 3 miles under the sea.
There’s now a small marina where ships used to be loaded with coal. Evidence of the old mine buildings can be seen in the cliff face that surrounds the harbour.
—Stephen—
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Like any sea, the North Sea can be a cruel place, the life of many a fisherman has been lost. In the old days, in my late teens and early 20s, I was quite a keen beach fisherman and I’ve fished in all sorts of weather, but I think this is the calmest I’ve seen it – though ‘calmness’ only applies to the state of the swell and surf. Just as dangerous, though all but invisible to the casual glance, is the speed of the tide running along the coast – it can rip through at a significant rate – because of this, I’ve never chosen to swim in the sea along the East Coast.
Very dark seaweed covers the foreshore in this spot – it is very, very slippery.
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Disused lighthouse, known as Smeaton Low Light, at Spurn Point, Kilnsea, East Yorkshire, England. The lantern was removed and replaced by a water tank.
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Despite the staining, the remains of this groyne (groin) were remarkably clean – I suspect that it was a combination of being sand blasted when the wind got up and the equivalent water/sand action when the tide was in.
For those unaware, groynes are constructed as barriers to prevent the movement of sediment. In the case of these ones, they would be for preventing long shore drift, which is, if I recall correctly, the movement of sand/shingle along the beach/shore through tidal movements of the sea.
I can vouch for this action, as I used to do a bit of beach fishing and if you cast a heavish weight, say 5 oz + hooks, out directly in front of your, say 80 yards, you could watch the line move as the tide pulled the line/weight down the coast. In strong tides, leaving it long enough, would mean you would be pulling the weight/hooks out of the breakers very soon – in some tides it was impossible to ‘hold bottom’.
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Stephen G Hipperson 