Poppy goes on Holiday Part 2

 I spent a comfortable night with my sister and her family while Poppy joined the girls camping. The next morning I met up with them at Holywell Bay. The beautiful beach of Holywell is protected by the National Trust which is just as well judging by the ghastly holiday park that you pass on the approach road. Our family has had holiday connections here for around 90 years. My grandparents camped here when my mum was a young child. 

Facilities were few and far between then but equally the landscape was totally unspoilt by any holiday homes.

A generation on my mum and dad took us there and we camped in a small campsite in the valley behind the beach. 

Photographs taken in approximately the same place along the stream which leads down to the beach.  Mum and her brothers in approximately 1934.

Myself with my niece around 1991

My girls and their friend in 2020

The beach surrounded by sand dunes and cliffs is a fabulous location. There are extensive sands at low tide.

It is however a beach to be wary of. It would be easy to become trapped by the rising tide on the far end of the beach. It is far safer to explore when the tide is still going out.

There are other hazards too. Weever fish lurk in the sand especially at low tide. Should you happen to stand on one as Farmer Daughter did a few days before it will give you a nasty sting through its spikes. It is apparently very painful. She had to limp up to the lifeguard hut and soak her foot in hot water!

Have a careful look at the picture above and you will see a post sticking up. This is the remains of a submerged wreck which can be partially seen at very low tide. You can see it in the picture below. The SS Francia was an Argentinian cargo ship which was carrying coal from Port Talbot to France when it met it’s end in 1917. It is dangerous to swim close to it and the Lifeguards were giving continual warnings on their tannoy to swimmers to stay away.

Meanwhile back to Poppy who had another exhausting day on the beach.

She loyally waited while the girls swam and body boarded. 

Towards tea time time we went off to their campsite where my car was loaded with stuff so that they could keep Poppy and would be able to fit her in the car on their return home. I then set off for home leaving Poppy  to enjoy a final day of holiday with the girls.