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| Beach Buoy and Stubborn Dog arrived in an empty car park at 6-13am, exactly 12 hours since his last arrival. When they left the house, they could hear the call of the wild sea and see the clouds rushing by from north to south... a hint of what was to come. They parked up at the south end of the car park. Beach Buoy reversed into the parking bay so that the van would act as a windbreak whilst Beach Buoy changed into his beach boots whilst siting with the side door open. The cold wind whistled under the van giving another pointer to the chill. Stubborn Dog wore two coats. Beach Buoy was well wrapped up, he grabbed some fingerless gloves as they left the comfort of the van behind. They walked to the water's edge. He glanced back to see some regulars head north with their two dogs. Beach Buoy and Stubborn Dog headed south with the wind at their backs. The sea was wild. Out on the horizon the rain/ hail fell into a turbulent sea. The weather, sky and light was changing minute by minute. Beach Buoy glanced around and saw the arrival of short short man; wearing short shorts..."In this weather?" |
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| Beach Buoy left the water's edge and headed to the dune edge. Once again seabirds were resting down by the sea; he let them be. |
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| Light varied so much this morning. Short short man went by in his half -mast shorts, perhaps mourning the death of spring? He overtook Beach Buoy and his mate as they dawdled and took in the views. |
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| Beach Buoy had a stand and think today rather than a sit as it was so fresh. The sea roared. The waves crashed into the pier and Stubborn Dog's ears flapped, unfurled in the wind. |
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| Beach Buoy picked up some items as he went, for his beach clean. |
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| A golf ball was collected as well as some plastic bottles, some of those blue sponge balls and a red marker pen that splatted blood-like red spots on the beach as Beach Buoy tried to tap sand from it. |
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| The wind blasted along... |
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| They found a little shelter from the wind behind the dunes. |
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| The sun came and went and continued to do so... |
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| From left to right... The North Sea The grey rocks. The dunes and the sky. Beach Buoy had planned to turn at the grey rocks and head back but Stubborn Dog was keen to carry on! Let's just let that sink in for a minute! Stubborn Dog lead the way...so off to the Blue Lagoon it was... |
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| Another glance back, every glance seemed to show a different day. To the west a Skylark made a brief appearance then must have gone back to its nest to double check that calendar he brought with him? "It says May !" |
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| The Blue Lagoon was edged with sea coal. The beach was well protected from the cold wind by the dunes and pier. The River Tees, in contrast was mass of rolling waves, coming into port |
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| Beach Buoy cannot recall ever seeing the sea coloured with sand that it had stolen from the beach, it looked almost rusty with the additive. |
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| The patchwork North Gare Pier. |
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| Thankfully the worst of the weather seemed to be still falling to the south and out at sea??? |
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| The blue sky over the village would soon change! |
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| A wind assisted jogger and his dog bounded south. Then it changed. The blue sky over the village turned to grey, the wind increased in speed and the temperature seemed to drop. Then spits and spots began to fall..... these became hail and Beach Buoy and Stubborn Dog became wet. |
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| They made it back to the van around fifteen minutes too late to be able to be snug and smug as bugs in a dub? They were damp but they had had a brilliant morning, BEST PART OF THE DAY BEACH BUOY. |
