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Yesterday I cleaned Ballydowane and removed enough plastic drink bottles to fill a whole bin.  The tide was 3 hours away from high but even so the waves were so high that lower end of the beach where I was, was rapidly becoming cut off from the exit.  So I skidaddled and hopped over the hill to Bunmahon which even at high tide can be walked along it's edge with the dunes.  Nothing of any note to report but these few items caught my photographic attention.

Five Beaches for Christmas Eve

I'm a bit late with this but on Christmas Eve, as promised to myself and this blog, I combed the five of the best beaches between my dear Ballydowane and Tramore.  They were, in order, Kilfarassy, Annestown, Kilmurrin, Bunmahon and Ballydowane.

I was out early because low tide was 11am and Kilfarassy is a brilliant beach where you can cross rocky sections and walk from one beach to another. But Kilfarassy also gives me the heebie-jeebies slightly because in crossing these areas, you are aware of how you could be cut off by the tide if you got it wrong.  And as it was a full moon and a 'high' low tide I wasn't taking any chances. 

Annestown was next, just five minutes down the road and full of rope.  Then Kilmurrin, strangely devoid of plastic.  This beach is usually one of the best for beach plastic and other interesting things.  I had a cheese blaa here as well and a flask of tea and looked over the bay on a very bright, cold and sunny day.  The tide was already starting to creep up the beach so I headed next to Bunmahon which was busy with people but not busy with beach finds, except for a red band fish which was long and flat and a bit scary looking.  Lastly Ballydowane, where due to the tide coming in, only the briefest of combs was possible despite it being two hours before the full high tide. 

It was a fantastic day; the cold, clear winter weather definitely helped after all the rain and storms of the past few weeks but the best thing was to have devoted a whole day to beach combing and to have the contents of not one but five beaches to look forward to.  The beaches are all very close together, no more than ten minutes driving time between any of them so no sooner are you in the car with a load of goodies than you're out again in anticipation of more finds.

I found 5 HP inkjet cartridges which have been washing in all around the Irish and British coastline from a container spill.  Their locations are being logged and you can find out more here.  As for the rest of my finds, 2 dead sea birds and strange and happy things as well, see photos below.

Beaches by Bicycle

I didn't get far at all on my bicycle.  Just north of Bunmahon to be exact which is pathetic.  But I was in no rush, the sun was hot and I also visited Stage Cove which I have never seen before and sat on the cliffs overlooking Bunmahon Bay, amid the wonderfully perfumed burnet roses that grow there with their bright orange pollen.  In Bunmahon, I stopped at the Copper Coast Geopark cafe which is in a disused church and very sweet.  I bought a Magnum ice lolly to help with the hill outside Bunmahon and it did the job perfectly.

Beach Crawl

I did a beach crawl yesterday from Ballydowane to Kilfarassy.  I could have continued on into Tramore but I went to Lidl instead and did some shopping - which is what I was meant to be doing.  I'm going to do the same today, excluding the shopping, on my bike - or at least try.  Some of the hills on that coast road are very steep.