Sandy Haven Beach to Lindsway Bay, 28 May 2023 @ 11am
Blog by Teresa Nash
Sunday, 28 May. Met at Sandy Haven Beach Car Park and carried our boats and kit down to the shore. Everyone helped each other with this and likewise back when we finished. It was a rugged walk down to the beach. As this was a beach-clean, incorporating a bbq, there was more than the usual normal kit. We had litter-picking kit, including large bags, pickers and gloves. We also, as part of the kayak boat recce, had 2 larger, more spacious Canadian sea-boats. The idea was to put all the rubbish and any bulky items for the bbq (food, grill, utensils) into these larger boats. Everybody chipped in really well when it came to food etc.
Attendees: 5 responsible adults, 2 novice adults and 6 children. We had a new lady, who joined us today, called Sian. She was made to feel very welcome and really enjoyed herself.
We started paddling about 11.30am. Conditions were calm on the way out….there was very little rock-hopping done, as most kayakers were picking up litter en-route. The young ones really enjoyed this, which was great to see.The main purpose today was to get to Lindsway Bay to tidy up and have a bbq. On the way, a huge amount of fishermen’s rope, a couple of damaged buoys and bits of polystyrene were picked up and put into the larger boats.
When we arrived at Lindsway Bay, there was ample wood for a fire. This was lit very quickly and, as it turned out, everybody brought sausages. There were all kinds of sausages (with finger rolls and normal rolls), so there was plenty of variety. It seemed like we had enough sausages to feed the 5000, but amazingly most were eaten. We all had good appetites! We are all into upcycling and reusing materials and the grill, to put the sausages on (for the bbq), was found and came to great use for them all :-). Teamwork was the word of the day, as the sausages kept being turned regularly by many. One of our youngsters, Lauren, brought a bag of marshmallows….great idea - toasted marshmallows for those with a sweet tooth. The rest of the young ones had fun with these and Lauren briefly wore her marshmallow moustache. In between the time this particular area for the beach-clean was chosen (2 days ago) and our arrival, some people had already done a beach-clean themselves, but we still picked up a few more bits and pieces of rope and plastic.
The highlight of the whole thing was Clive’s find of some very large hard, foam insulation blocks on the way back. Mark did a fantastic job, with Clive by his side, of towing these huge blocks home with his kayak.
After we finished eating and drinking, the bbq was safely put out. We paddled back, against some pokey northerly/east north easterly winds. Some of the very small lads were given some assistance, but the whole paddle back went very smoothly. They and everybody did really well.
The normal drying off, getting changed and loading kit was done. Everybody helped each other out.
By the time we had finished, it was nearly 5pm. A great day out, getting exercise, having fun and also cleaning our land.
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