Like most people in England, at the moment, I’m wondering whether climate change has finally hit the country hard. The rain just doesn’t seem to stop falling! In fact rainfall over England in the last six months has been the wettest on record.
The average UK winter has become around 1C warmer and 15% wetter over the past century, new Carbon Brief analysis shows.
This analysis covers more than 100 years of data on temperature, rainfall, wind speed and snow, to assess how UK winters have changed.
The data shows that extremely warm and wet winters are becoming more common. Six of the ten warmest winters on record were in the 21st century, and four of these also rank in the top ten wettest years on record.
As a consequence of all this rain it feels like Spring has not sprung! Here we are starting May, the third month of Spring and only now are we seeing some warmer weather.
With the first rays of sun finally poking through the sky we ventured down to Weston-super-Mare in North Somerset for a nostalgic day out at the great British seaside.
We parked at the Uphill beach car park in order to be able to walk the full expanse of the beachfront. Weston is famous locally and even sometimes nicknamed Weston-Super-Mud because of how far the tide goes out. It has the second highest tidal range in the world, only being beaten by the Bay of Fundy, located in Canada, between the provinces of Nova Scotia and Brunswick.
The town’s name is made up of two Old English or Saxon words meaning the west tun or settlement. Because there are several places called Weston in Somerset descriptions were added to tell them apart. Super (with small s) means on or above, and mare is Latin for sea.
The weather forecast didn’t include any rain but alas it wasn’t correct yet again and during our first venture across the sandy bay we soon got caught in a downpour.
The extensive beach is incredibly clean despite often featuring in the Top 10 Dog Friendly beaches in the UK. Dog walkers at Weston are evidently very careful and happily clean up after their pooches.
Dogs are not allowed on the area of the beach between the Grand Pier and Royal Sands from the start of May to the end of September, but are free to go on the rest of the beach.
The views out to sea are quite captivating with Bream Down off to our left and Steep Holm island in front of us.
Whilst visits can be made to the island from Spring to Autumn organised by the Trust who now own it, the island is now uninhabited, with the exception of the wardens. It is protected as a nature reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) with a large bird population and plants including wild peonies.
Just tucked off behind and to the right of Steep Holm is Flat Holm. This island is just four and a half miles from Cardiff, the bay of which we can spot on the horizon, but the island itself is only half a mile wide. Flat Holm is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest and Local Nature Reserve. Run by Cardiff Council, the Flat Holm Project conserves the island’s natural and cultural features, from maritime grassland to Victorian barracks, from seabird colonies to wartime bunkers. There are pre-organised boat trips to the island that depart from Cardiff several times a month. The trips allow you up to three hours on the island, depending on tide times. Longer stays, retreats and workshops are also available.
Walking on across the sand there is no sign of the donkeys for which Weston is also famous. Donkey rides have been available since 1886 in Weston Super Mare and certainly feature amongst my childhood memories. The tradition started in Victorian times, but is now much less popular.
When I was a child Weston was my local seaside resort and my Mum would organise day trips by coach and on occasion, when money would allow, even a whole week away at Weston during the summer. Weirdly I never remember it raining. My memories are just full of hot summer days.
Being fair of skin my Mum used to slather us with suntan cream, pay to hire a couple of deck chairs (my sister and I had to share one) and the day would be spent building endless sandcastles, trips in and out of the sea and picnics complete with sand in my sandwiches. As we became older we were permitted to go to the ice cream kiosk alone for an obligatory cone with a flake. Then as late afternoon drew in we would pack up our belongings and head off to the nearest chip shop for our fish and chip supper, eaten out of old newspaper of course whilst sitting on the cold concrete balustrade watching the tide come in.
I often smile at today’s coffee culture and reflect back on those seaside trips when tea came in a flask and not out of a cup. On the odd occasion that we were on holiday for a week my Mum would walk along the sea front in an attempt to find the cheapest cup of tea for sale at a cafe. Children didn’t drink coffee back in those days, it was tea or maybe as a treat pop. Mum would honestly turn in her grave at the prices now charged at Starbucks, Costa and the like!
The pier, although clearly visible from the onset of our walk is about two miles on from our starting point. No visit to Weston or in fact any British seaside resort is complete without a spin on the slot machines. We pay our pound to enter the pier and venture out to the Grand Pavilion at the end. The pavilion has, in fact, been destroyed by fire on two occasions, in 1930 and 2008. This latest version was opened in October 2010 having cost £39m to rebuild.
It is, in fact, one of two major piers in the town. Birnbeck Pier, known locally as the Old Pier is situated further along the coast beyond Knightstone Island and was built between 1864 and 1867 some 37 years before the Grand Pier. Birnbeck is a unique structure, being the only British pier that links the mainland to an island. It unfortunately closed in 1994 and now stands derelict.
Thirty years later this old pier is starting to make a comeback. Purchased by the local council in 2023, architects and engineers were appointed in September 2023 and restoration work is planned to be carried out in phases between 2024 and 2027. A planning application for the first phase was submitted in April this year.
Back on the Grand Pier which features indoor rides and arcade machines year round as well as the ubiquitous candy floss stall, ice cream kiosk and a tearoom also has a land train during peak holiday season. The attraction for us today, along with being inside out of the less than hot weather, is a trip down memory lane on the old two pence machines. Like all those around us we slip out two peas into the slots and watch them whisk themselves down the tube to the moving step at the bottom. The knack is to ensure your two pence falls flat on the step so when the machine next pushes all the coins forward your two pence falls down onto the step below. This is turn is then pushed forward in the hope that the coins on the step all move forward releasing those teetering on the edge of the bottom step to fall off and into the tray below. It’s hard to believe that all these years on these machines are still in popular given the movement of arcade machines towards ever more modern equipment in line with games played at home on X-boxes etc.
Hubby, who has far more experience than me on these machines, having been brought up within easy travelling distance of Southend-on-Sea, another large seaside resort on the Essex coastline soon hits the jackpot and loads of paper of tickets start flowing from the machine he is playing. Whilst he gathers up the reams of tickets I try and find an attendant to discover what we actually do with these tickets. We are directed upstairs to the gift/prize shop. I can’t believe like two excited school kids we are rushing upstairs to spend our bounty!
Despite having 600+ tickets we soon realise our only option is to exchange them for sweets. But laden with several white mice, maom packets and a couple of large sherbet lollies we still leave the arcade happy and feeling as if we have won something.
Turning left out of the pier we head towards Knightstone Island and Marine Lake. This is a lovely little part of Weston seafront. Knightstone Island was the location for Weston’s first purpose-built seawater baths. A public pavilion, theatre, and swimming baths were added in the early 20th century. it was underused for many years and when I used to visit as a child, I don’t remember much about it. The buildings were then revived in 2007 with the whole island being redeveloped primarily as flats and offices.
As noted on their website “Marine Lake is nearly 100 years old, it was originally equipped with a diving stage, rafts, rubber boats, water chutes, and children’s paddle boats. There were hundreds of bathing tents and dressing enclosures to protect bathers’ modesty. When it opened the lake was an instant success, being used by more than a quarter of a million people during 1929.
It still offers a safe and clean method to swim whilst visiting Weston seafront. At its deepest point it is about 15 metres deep but it varies according to the tidal height. Occasionally the whole Lake will go underwater. If you look carefully at the sea walls along the lower walkway you can see the height markings.”
I still get an odd bolt of happiness going across the walkway. For some bizarre reason it always takes me back to RE at school and the story of Moses parting the sea.
Reaching the other side if you turn left you can make your way around to the old Birnbeck Pier but with tummies rumbling we head off, instead, to “Papas Fish and Chip” shop. Highlighted on a programme we watched featuring Pam Eyres called Cotswolds and Beyond we felt that a day out at the seaside wouldn’t be complete without finishing it off with a fish and chip lunch. Papas was founded by Photio’s Papas in 1966 and boasts many other seaside outlets around the UK.
We chose to sit in the restaurant rather than to pay for takeaway, purely because we felt in need of a rest and the wind on the seafront was beginning to blow. We couldn’t fault the service, staff or food and on leaving we were ready to walk back along the seafront to the car.
There are many seaside resorts around the coast of the UK we have visited on our travels. We’ve walked from Ramsgate to Margate down in Kent and revisited Southend in Essex when Jamie Oliver was making his programme “Jamie and Jimmy’s Friday Night Feast” . Southend boasts the longest pleasure pier in the world. We popped into the seaside and university town of Aberystwyth when visiting West Wales, stopped off at Saltburn by the Sea in North Yorkshire en route from York to Edinburgh and spent a weekend when we first met down in Brighton. These are only a few memories that I’m mentioning here. The point is we live on an island and the seaside is such a great part of our traditions, it’s worth making the effort and paying a visit.
A Midlife Adventure 