Seaton Snook.
Beach Buoy had known the name much of his life.
He didn't know exactly where it was.
Many people, some maps had a few ideas.
Beach Buoy had lost his bearings.
He lost his marbles many years ago, so there was a running theme.
This blog will just scratch the surface and record the visit,
Beach Buoy will have to do another more detailed blog post regarding the Snook.
He parked up on the Old Zinc Road at about 11-30 a.m.
He had checked the tides and it was on the way out.
Parking at the end of the road was a little crowded.
There are a couple of lay by type areas.
It turned out to be a popular spot for dog sitters.
Three different vans pulled up to exercise dogs whilst Beach Buoy was there.
To the right is a chemical works.
The right hand side was a zinc works, there was an acid works to the left.
Beach Buoy, Borrowed Dog and Another Dog headed for the beach.
It was just a matter of carrying on in the direction of the road.
There was a large tin shed to the left.
To the right was an old weigh bridge.
Why would there be a weigh bridge here?
It was busy with bird watching couples.
Busy anyway considering it was a Wednesday afternoon.
The beach was vast, thanks to the tide being on the way out.
A couple headed from South Gare to North, down by the water's edge.
Beach Buoy headed for the driftwood shacks, situated on a narrow strip of dune that became surrounded by sea when the tide is in.
Thanks to his research, he now knows that this place is called
Seaton Snook Point.
They headed up river.
A man dug in the mud, possibly for fishing bait?
In one old map Beach Buoy had seen this area described as
The Slime.
They continued along
Seaton on Tees Channel.
Up ahead was a small jetty.
Again thanks to his research, Beach Buoy now knew that this was called
Seaton Snook Wharf.
There was is slipway along side.
Back in the day, there used to be a school located near to the Wharf.
He began to head back.
He looked back at the jetty (Wharf.)
He tried to picture the school that was once there.
There was a line of houses stretching from the near the school location going back towards where the van was parked.
Now just a field of random horses.
Neigh-bours of a different kind.
The field ended in a sudden deep drop.
At the bottom, trees!
It seemed so odd to have trees so near to the dunes.
It was like a secret little forest.
The Trees had just grown wild and free.
Beach Buoy had been Tweeting his day.
A helpful chap tweeted to say that a construction company once had a licence to take sand from the dunes.
Hence the large gap in the dune system.
The weigh bridge made sense now.
