sat 26th May, west bay

Just read MG comments - good timing, we have all been scattered and quiet. And I have unfortunately few salty tales... Hope the others have been more adventurous. Well done MG for keeping up the urban dips - how long till you try out a canal? Or the Thames??

It had been a ridiculous break of nearly a month... being unable to summon the enthusiasm to swim amongst the sewage and thwarted by south west storms on every recent visit to Dorset... until today. Escaping the sweaty hoards in town I got home by 5 and went straight to west bay. After some time in sussex a packed west bay beach looks relatively deserted... I even managed to get a free parking spot, winter style. After 5 minutes walk I had the beach almost to myself. Scorching hot, stunningly blue.

The sea was a bit choppy thanks to strong easterly wind but such beautiful views; the classic Dorset  gold, blue and green.  The fulmers were swooping low over the water making me a little apprehensive of dive-bombing. There were quite a few people paddling and swimming though and they all seemed fine, no gouged eye balls or bleeding heads in sight. The water had warmed up a lot since last month (I think mostly in past few days, it seemed to be stuck on 9deg for ages but is now officially up to dizzy heights of 11 but it did feel warmer).

A blissful swim, much longer than last month, barely any brain freeze even with diving, followed by rare treat of laying in the sun to dry off.

while sunbathing I had the odd sight of three swans (apologies for zoom) out to sea, a bit surreal to lay on the beach and watch them float past...

SW