Blueberry Field...

[MarcT]

Wow!
Let's hope you don't have too many bears on your Island...

[Ross Macintosh]

Wow!
Let's hope you don't have too many bears on your Island...

PEI has no bears, lynx, cougars, deer, wolves, or moose. They are on the mainland which is about 10 miles away at its closest. We have just three species of snakes - all non-venomous and no turtles or lizards. There are however lots of birds as we are on a
migration route.

[Ross Macintosh]

Here's a pic of one of our Prince Edward Island beaches. The number of people in the image would qualify it as a "crowded" day at the beach. It is possible to visit a beach here and see no other people.

[handrawn]

i do love empty beaches

heres one of Ainsdale beach, Lancashire taken 11.31am on 18 november last year, not a soul in sight, walking down from Southport to Formby



there's more sand on the Formby dunes:





no wild blueberries though, have to go west across the Irish Sea I think to get any chance of those

[Ross Macintosh]

i do love empty beaches

heres one of Ainsdale beach, Lancashire taken 11.31am on 18 november last year, not a soul in sight, walking down from Southport to Formby

Beautiful! I particularly like your second image - the one close to the dunes. Sadly your third looks like the dunes are being damaged. Are people allowed to walk in the dunes? Here they are protected. In many areas here dogs and horses are restricted because there is a endangered bird (Piping Plovers) that nest on the beach -- they are very sensitive to being intruded upon. Motorized vehicles are never on our beaches either.

[handrawn]

the first pic was looking back north towards southport

this pic is looking south with liverpool in the far distance on the skyline



The dunes at Formby are National Trust property so they are a recreational resource and managed - walking is allowed - activities are controlled and restricted to designated areas

One thing you can't do anything about though is coastal erosion...

dunes looking the other way:



dunes long shot:

[browj2]

Lovely photos all. Ross, I see that you are another Canadian who wears shorts until the snow flies, if it does in PEI.

There is now an 11 km bridge to PEI, so watch out for bear and moose making their way across.

We were supposed to vacation on PEI last year as I was selling the idea of those beaches to my wife. Didn't make it. Tried again this year, but she wants to go around the Cabot Trail again.

This reminded me that I have yet to finish my video of our trip to Îles de la Madeleine in 2013. How time flies! To get there, you drive about 5 hours NNE of Souris, PEI. Well, actually, you drive onto the ferry and it drives for 5 hours. Ross, I presume that you've been there. More fantastic beaches, but also a reddish rock along many of the shorelines. Most beautiful!

Attachment 121232



Hmm, strange, a couple of the photos that I wanted to attach wouldn't.

[Ross Macintosh]

Hi John --- I haven't been to >> Îles de la Madeleine << but it's the nearest place on my bucket list so I have no excuse to not go soon. We live about an hour away from the ferry.

I fully support your wife's wanting to go back to >> Cape Breton <<. I was conceived there and it is the home of my MacIntosh ancestors post-Scotland. Many years ago I worked as a lifeguard at Ingonish Beach on the Cabot Trail.

For anyone not familiar with these Canadian islands I made their names above into links... (Note the pics of Îles de la Madeleine have a little menu list on the corner of the page allowing you to see more than the nature pics).

[Egg Bramhill]

Hi HD. My 'Uncle & Aunt' used to run the Grapes Hotel in Formby. Well remember happy family holiday visiting the dunes in the early 60's as a kid. Great coastline. Very similar to Hemsby in Norfolk where the erosion is an even bigger issue.

[handrawn]

Hi there Mr B

Not that familiar with the norfolk coast - but I was brought and live on the Yorkshire coast and I remember going down to Spurn, the spit on the Humber mouth, for picnics; and playing amongst the remains of first world war gun emplacements that lay amongst the sandunes and broken on the beach.

The sea play havoc and has washed away the road now, as it did the old wartime railway track that preceeded it; but it's still a naature and bird reserve

A fair perectage of our coast ends up down your way - 6ft in a year in places... but a lot of it dosn't stop, just says hello and carries on down to Holland - the whole coast erodes; I blame the EU

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spurn

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=sp...RVRTimzwydPzM:

My better half comes from Liverpool - I escaped the family, up to Southport by trian, and then walked down along the beach as far as the firing range, where the red flags were up, so I had to cut back into Formby from the south and have refreshment in the Railway [which surprise, surprise, is by the station home]

I love the coast, I love the solitude when you hit it right and the weather too... one day I might make Norfolk...