Beach time

After a week of heavy rain, we’re briefly back to bright sunshine here in the North East of England, so I thought I’d share an image from the previous heatwave at the end of May.

I took the kids over to Cullercoats Bay for a mid-morning play on the beach while the weather was so good.

As we walked down the ramp to the beach, this scene lined up in front of me: the couple on deckchairs looking out over the beach and the bay, with the Tynemouth pier lighthouse poking out in the background and on the horizon.

I like that the image is split into multiple layers: 

• The main(?) subjects: the deckchair couple on the concrete platform for the RNLI base in the near foreground
• a band of soft, dry sand littered with footprints and a single brightly coloured play tent
• followed by a band of patchy, reflective wet sand where the tide had just gone out
• and then another band of smoother, less-reflective damp sand, with a few nicely-distributed beachgoers
• the water in the bay with a couple of paddleboarders and, if you look closely, a couple of swimmers too
• a solid block with the rock pools, harbour wall and the land rising up onto the small headland
• and finally, the open sea, lighthouse peaking out and a cloud-speckled sky

And as I finish this article off, we’re due for potential thunderstorms this evening. Gotta love the British weather!