Shingle Street, Suffolk, 17th July 2012

An amazing, isolated spot. Huge banks of shingle covered in a riot of colourful plants. Exposed, windy, desolate, beautiful. The grey sea when you eventually reach it laps at the steep shingle banks, calm but almost creepy; like it could rise up and flood all the land at a minutes notice.

The shingle is as steep as Abbotsbury but with the added complication of a major river mouth (The Alde) so the warning signs everywhere against swimming are not without good reason. I did some research before travelling and read that it was safe to swim so long as the water was clam and you went in at the southern end of the beach... and I was so lucky - woke up on the 17th to blue skies and a flat sea.

I was expecting the worst from the water after 2 weeks in sunny Portugal but was amazed that the temperature felt hardly any different to Albufiera and after a few seconds reticence I was in and swimming. I was feeling a little nervous of the NO SWIMMING signs (there were three in a short stretch) so I kept near the bank but had a beautiful swim and a great reaclimatization to UK waters.

Now all we need is some calm weather in the SW...