Beach Buoy and Stubborn Dog arrived at the beach car park at
7-20am.
A baker's delivery van had parked up, waiting for the shop to open.
A man had rested his bike up against the promenade wall as he looked out to sea, drank from a bottle and smoked.
A partial moon hung over the car park.
A socially distanced 7 am club were already well on their way back from the south end of the beach.
They headed for the silvery blue and angry sea.
There wasn't a breath of wind on the beach, although there was some movement on the turbine blades out in the open expanse of the bay.
They headed south towards a hint of daylight.
It was now 7-43 am.
Some stars were still visible but were being snuffed out, one by one as the daylight came.
The partial moon made sense, when you thought about where the sun was about to rise.
A murder of crows patrolled and picked at the strand line.
Six Oyster Catchers were down at the water's edge.
The sea came rushing in, they all ran towards the dunes, well all but one, a one-legged one, he hopped.
They all took flight.
They added to Stubborn Dog stack, then headed back towards the river.
A dozen Oyster Catchers flew in a neat formation, just above the water's edge heading north.
Beach Buoy and Stubborn Dog used the dunes to the reach the river as the tide was quite high.
The dunes can be a rocky road a times, but life can be too.
The river looked glorious in its Golden Pyjamas.
A boat towed out a small barge in the morning's light.
There was a vast contrast between the calm of the rock pools and anger of the sea rushing into the river mouth.
They stood and watched the light change on the surface of the river for a while.
Then it was back to Hartlepool Bay after pausing to admire the reflections at The Blue Lagoon.
The tide was well in.
They headed down to the beach.
Stubborn Dog Stack is just about visible from the beach now.
The sun came out, shadows joined them for the walk back.
A Seagull circled round and round as he waited for two crows to finish their beach feast, to see what they had left behind, once they had finished.
They headed for the van and a coffee.
A mother was heading for the water's edge with a toddler.
They had winter coats and a bright red bucket and spade set.
Early December... Beach Buoy loved it.
