SEATON SANDS AND NORTH GARE BEACH 3 FEB. 2019.

Beach Buoy had had a restless night.
He was awake at 3-45am and never really got back to sleep fully.
6-30 am and he was up; it was a sleep-in for him anyway.
He made a coffee. His phone informed him that it was minus two degrees outside.
He looked out of the high, long and narrow window on the side of the house that gave a hint of how it was looking out on the beach, sadly though there was no sea view.
The scene was one of three colours; Blue sky, Torquiose below that and finally a pale rust coloured base.
Beach Buoy had planned to walk to the beach, but Stubborn Dog would take forever, by then the best part of the sunrise will have gone.
 It was nice to realise the sunrises were coming earlier and earlier.
A hint of hope.
They reached the car park at 7-05 am 
As they were getting ready to go from the van a friendly brown dog came to say hello... Beach Buoy recognised it as a lone member of the 7 am club. "Sorry" shouted its owner as she walked quickly to the ramp that led to the beach.
"No worries. " answered Beach Buoy as the lady disappeared from view. Perhaps she is trying to catch the rest of the 7 am club up? thought Beach Buoy.

Beach Buoy and Stubborn Dog made their way down the ramp and Beach Buoy couldn't resist the chance to stand an a sheet of ice that had formed near the bottom of the concrete ramp. It was solid and stood firm even with Beach Buoy's mass pressing down on it, they stepped on to the cold  beach at 7-10 am. 
The sand was frozen hard.
Peaks and troughs of other beach walk's frozen footprints stood firm as they  made their way to the water's edge.
The sky was gorgeous.

There was a long quiff of grey cloud stretching out to sea.
A flock of seagulls stood where the sea met the sand.
A fair chance it was some of the same gulls that Beach Buoy watched last night as they returned to the sea for the night. It must have been a very long and cold night for them.
Two seagulls stood separate from the rest, facing one another. There was a large one and a much smaller bird.
It was like the larger and possibly older bird was telling tales of all the cold nights he had seen and sharing tricks of the trade to get through those difficult nights?
Or maybe Beach Buoy was reading too much into things again; he can do at times.
The main flock took off and circled in the sky just above the beach; literally stretching their wings.

The light was changing constantly as the two progressed South. 
It was very cold.
From the south the 7 am club appeared; the lady and the brown friendly dog had caught them up.
Mari the poodle ran over for her neck scratch. She was followed by the friendly brown dog who ran over and then rolled over on the cold sand for a belly rub.
The walkers exchanged a distant "Morning!" as they headed their separate ways.

The low sea was still heading out and the receding water had exposed a sandbank around 100 metres offshore. Some of the stretching gulls had claimed it as theirs.
The water that was caught between the sand bank and the beach was a mass of ripples all heading in different directions, bumping into one another and going off at 180 degrees to it's original heading.

There was a wide stretch of shingle that started at the grey rocks and carried on to the North Gare Pier.
The shingle was the perfect size for a sea alley find and it came up trumps again today.

Before heading to North Gare Beach, Beach Buoy glanced north, back to the village. It was all a bit pink as the morning glow slowly headed north.

By the time Beach Buoy had crossed over the Pier onto North Gare Beach, the sun had already risen. Yet another clue that the light was coming earlier and earlier.
He went down to the beach  via the dune sand but it too was frozen solid. Normally as he descended the dune sand, each footstep made its own foothold but today it was bit of a run down a slippery slope.

Beach Buoy looked for a dip in the frost covered rocks to enable a fairly risk free access to the riverside.

A couple of the beach cleaned items. A rope and a plastic bird. The bird was face down and its patterned wings looked like sea shells from a distance.

A lovely sea-worn brown bottle neck.

Although he had a coat on, Stubborn Dog seemed to be feeling the cold. Beach Buoy picked him up to warm him up and decided to head back a little earlier than he would have done otherwise.

So it was back to a sunny, cold and as far as the eyes could see, a deserted beach?

Beach Buoy had found and collected the ART brick earlier on into the walk. He decided to leave it behind alongside a piece of his own artwork.

Beach Buoy kept glancing back to the south to the bright light as he headed north.
The seagulls had all but gone.
A lone crow stood nearby making a noise that reminded Beach Buoy of the sound of a cartoon spring.

It was now 8-56 am.
Low tide had been six minutes earlier.
Beach Buoy had travelled back around half way along from North Gare Pier towards the car park before other beach walkers travelled past, heading south. The first walkers were soon followed by a steady flow of wagging tails and ball chasing dogs with their various owners.

Again Beach Buoy glanced back to see his footprints along side those of another, but unknown walker.

It had warmed up to minus 1 degree as Beach Buoy headed to the van, passing a metal detectorist as he did so.

BEACH BUOY.