Sunday 25 October 2009

Beach number two, in the rain

The second beach of the week was Lossiemouth West Beach. It's a large beach, bordered by a golf course, which curves up to Covesea Lighthouse and then carries on around the corner. None of this is very obvious from the photos taken today due to the awful weather!

The dogs still enjoyed their damp walk but, unfortunately, I have no photos of them dashing about because I had forgotten to put a card in my camera! Luckily, my little camera was in the car and I just managed to get a few shots when we returned before its battery died! Note to self - check cameras properly next time.

The local air base is close by and aircraft frequently fly low over the beach as they land or take off. So low sometimes that you almost feel you could touch them!

A memorial at the end of the beach provides a poignant reminder of how dangerous the sea can be for fishermen, particularly in years gone by. On Christmas Day, 1806, three boats went out in calm waters to fish just over a mile offshore. These were fairly small, open boats, powered by oars and sails. Although easy to manoevre, they were quite unstable in bad weather. Later that day, gale force winds got up and, despite the efforts of the crews, they were swept out to sea and never seen again. The boats made up the entire fleet of the tiny village of Stotfield (now absorbed by Lossiemouth). There have been many fishing disasters over the years in Scotland but what makes this one particularly sad is that the village lost all its able bodied men and youths in one afternoon. Left behind were 17 widows, 47 children and 2 old men.

A little bit more info on Lossiemouth can be found here.


The lighthouse is barely visible in the distance.
The concrete blocks are the remains of wartime defences



Zooming in - there it is!


Very grey seas


Back at the car, a drookit Teasel and Louis



Here's two I took earlier. How the beach looks in better light


11 comments:

Sierra Rose said...

Lovely lighthouse! The waves looked a bit hazardous when you all were there!
Ps....mom often forgets to charge up the camera battery!

Hugs and snaggle-tooth kisses,
Sierra Rose

Chris said...

I must admit I havn't walked the west beach for ages.from Lossie end. I like the second shot best. I also can produce drookit papillons too.

Unknown said...

Every time I see your pics, I get this strong desire to visit Scotland. You should get a job with our local tourism board. :)

Gail said...

Ahhhh, to have a beach! These are beautiful.

Life With Dogs said...

This looks like a great place to spend time rain or shine. Our Labs would never let us leave. Lovely pics.

Amber and Nala said...

That is a sad story. :( Glad you had fun at the beach even though it was wet. :)

Nala

jabblog said...

Times were hard in years gone by. It's good that they are remembered through the memorial.
A walk in driving rain and wind is very bracing - and the smell of damp dog quite intoxicating!!

Suldog said...

Great lighthouse, but a very brooding sort of beach (at least in the grey light!)

Thomgib said...

I thought you would have mentioned the chickenburger incident ! x

Unknown said...

Oh, poor Teasel & Louis - they look so wet & miserable!! :-)

By the way, what did you mean in your comment about Jana being a different type of Viszla to the one in my picture? Am just curious as I don't know much about showing but I know there are different "types" of Danes...didn't realise there were different "types" of Viszlas too!

Hsin-Yi

Lindy said...

Those are some rough-looking waters! This was an interesting post, though sad about the loss of the Stotfield crews. The lighthouse is gigantic! I don't believe I've seen any quite as large.