A turbulent time

After the mayhem wreaked by the elements across these parts during the course of the week, Tilly and I eventually ventured out for a walk yesterday.  It felt safe to go out!  The wind had subsided and the wood had stopped roaring around us.

We went to the beach at Belhaven, near Dunbar.  It is a great favourite with surfers but yesterday there was no-one to be seen.  I am not surprised.  The waves were paltry but that aside, the beach was wrecked.  It is normally a huge expanse of lovely sand coloured sand but now at least half of its length is black sand which has been dredged up from somewhere.  Strewn across the beach there is seaweed galore, mostly cuvie kelp, tree trunks from goodness knows where, and a distressing number of dead sea creatures - starfish of all sizes, large and small crabs, lobsters which had been smashed to bits, sea urchins, fish and some kind of soft coral I have had trouble identifying.  It was an apocalyptic scene.

We got so far along the beach and it really wasn't an enjoyable scene, death and detritus everywhere!  So we turned round and headed back.  Then the wind picked up and the fine, dry sand at the top of the beach was blown in vapoury ribbons across the wet sand, streaming towards the sea.  

We got back to the car and I wiped the sand from Tilly's eyes and emptied out my walking boots!