Alright I admit it! There has only been one day with blue skies and sunshine, the first day and then only in the afternoon when I was out beachcombing. There is a saying round here, ‘If you can see Somerset it will rain soon, and if you can’t then it’s already raining!’ Not surprisingly on the Somerset side of the channel we used to have the same saying about Wales.
A lifetime of wet and rainy holidays in the West Country and Wales have made me fairly immune to it and like the wildlife I come out as soon as it stops raining. After all I wouldn’t come here in March if I wasn’t prepared for the wind and rain.
The fashion concious fishermen round here travel to work in style. The tractor is a well restored MF-135 just like mine – except I have the cab – and a number plate – both of which seem to be optional extas for beach transport. I thought at first I had more competition for beachcombing but it turns out that he was off to set his night-lines on Whiteford beach.
The rain is welcome for the plants though. You can almost hear the wild garlic growing. The sunken path provides almost perfect conditions for the garlic where it grows in industrial quantities – and freshly washed in the rain as well.
Also known as Ransomes, the wild garlic is edible and unlike the cultivated variety the mild garlic flavour is contained within the leaves and stems which are easily gathered. Goes well in scrambled eggs, and in one of my favourites – Mussels gathered on Oxwich beach and steamed in wildgarlic, butter and birch wine.
A poor selection of rope, fishcrates and no fishing floats so far. So either it’s been a tough winter with the wrong sort of storms for casting up the flotsam or I have a lot more competition on the beach than I used to a couple of years ago. Does recession make beachcombing more popular I wonder?
Excellent clouds! Nice piccies all round really. And anyway, the wind and rain stops the beaches getting overcrowded, right? Glad you’re enjoying yourself.