Yesterday’s drizzly grey sky cleared in time for the afternoon low tide. You don’t spurn such opportunities – so, to Musselwick Sands for a swim. As I was walking back along the beach, from a large family group having great fun in the waves came one girl, who sat herself at the sea’s edge… I don’t normally try doing fast sketches in full colour, but luckily I had the wherewithal: such a wonderful contrast, with the bay’s blues and greens so strong thanks to the air having been recently rain-washed. She wasn’t there long, looking out to sea; you can see from the marks how I hurried. I think the cropped composition is best – although with that red catching the eye so, one might manage a painting with the figure small in a great expanse of beach. The title works nicely in Welsh: Gwisg Goch
I meant to feature this a few weeks ago, but instead I added some new sketches; now, the trees shown (which have grown much larger because this painting goes back at least 10 years) have set their fruit. But it’s a picture I like because I think I captured the feel of the day quite well, so here you are…
Breaking from gardening tasks this sunny afternoon, down to Musselwick Sands for a low tide swim. A team of children were working very hard on sea defences; of course, the rising water was going to defeat them. As the waves started to seriously attack, the older siblings began piling sand even more furiously; but littlest one decided that they’d be most use scooping water up from the castle walls, and racing out into surf to indignantly fling it as far as they could. Talk about hard work! The first image is the full scan; I thought I’d include a cropped version which has more punch…?
Various pencils, fine biro, some scratching out
Throwing back the sea!Throwing back the sea! (Cropped)
The next Marloes Village Hall talk will be about the birds of our Peninsula. Wanting the poster to be striking but not too fussy, I searched the web for a drawing of a Peregrine Falcon – one of our most impressive local birds, along with gannets and ravens. This picture below stood out straight away; what amazed me when I studied it more carefully was that the background view is of Towers Point, a headland on the Saint Bride’s Bay coast about a mile from my house.
Peregrine Falcon by Paschalis Dougalis
Amazed me even more, on discovering that this is the work of Paschalis Dougalis, a Greek artist living in Munich! Such an odd combination of circumstances, it makes me wonder if my server incorporates an Infinite Improbability Drive. Anyway, I am very grateful to Mr Dougalis for his permission to incorporate the illustration in our poster; I do recommend you to visit his website and see how very good his work is for yourselves. Here’s the link…
Having written this piece for our local newsletter, Peninsula Papers, I thought I would share it – with some minor edits.
The Greek philosopher Heraclitus said that one cannot step into the same river twice: it’s never the same river, and you won’t be the same person. Similarly one cannot visit the same beach twice, because each tide changes things. The late May sand levels at Musselwick (Marloes) have been very high because of offshore winds; furthermore swimmers are finding it shingly underfoot, even rocky in places. Lumpy Beach Syndrome has been reported here before: from a friend’s archives comes a Western Mail front page article of June 11th 1984 headed Riddle of vanishing holiday sands baffles the experts. The photo shows Steve Marsden, then proprietor of Marloes Post Office (which was in The Square) surrounded by stones, his backdrop that unmistakeable black cliff. The Mail had consulted Prof D Q Bowen (Aberystwyth University) about the situation – which was however different 41 years ago, for then the general Musselwick beach level was very low and there were reports of “lost sand” from locations all across Wales and England. Normality will probably return with a weather change; but, it’s well to be reminded that Nature is good at surprises. While summer visitors struggle to picture No Beach Syndrome, we year-round shore explorers have witnessed on different occasions Musselwick, Albion, Marloes, and West Dale completely scoured to the bedrock – and then, sometimes only a day later, everything back as before!
I found this piece of sea-worn timber on Musselwick Sands during the winter, but it only came to light again yesterday while I was tidying (!). I was sure from the start that it reminded me of something; possibly Salvador Dali’s painting Sleep?
We have been having a long spell of sunny weather, with mostly light winds but the air keeping pretty cool. Back in June 2011 there was a similar pattern – except, the days were warm. So it was very comfortable painting this picture down on Albion Sands quite early in the morning; and quite early in the morning it had to be, to get the midsummer sun lighting the north side cliffs of Gateholm island.
A quintet from the Royal Northern College Of Music: Chloe Chen (cello), David Harris (violin), Alexandra Harrison (viola), Thomas Judge (double bass), and Asia Movsovic (piano). They played a belter of a fundraiser gig yesterday evening in the Lobster Pot Inn, Marloes – some pure classics, plus very catchy “classic conversions” of Abba, The Beatles… And after a break they were belting out requests. What a wonderful treat for our village, and our visitors!
Painted a long time ago, in 2010. I tend not to paint so “flatly” these days. This is looking North-West; the high tide island is Gateholm and across the sound is Skokholm, a very important sea bird reserve.
The Poetry Engine has fired up for the first time in ages! Some people like to see my original drafts: keep scrolling down if you are interested.
MUSSELWICK BOOKWORMS May 15th 2025
The weather was on Best Behaviour yesterday, so I had to go for a swim; But I might have gone down anyway, for the filthy state I was in! I’d been boring concrete, holes for bolts, and with the afternoon air so dry A ten mil drill, max percussion, had really made the dust fly.
Such a rush to reach the beach, the tide was well past low; But I managed to get round onto the sand, quickly into the sea did go. And after I had swum, then dried, in clean clothes to make me civilised A splosh along the wave-washed strand, a wade, and then – back on dry land.
And there, sat on those sun-warmed rocks, such a picture to delight: Three ladies all a-reading, with occasional glances at the gannets’ flights. I’m sure that at least the one of them had previously swum, Then dressed again in haste: methought I spied a dampish bum!
The important point is, they were READING: reading, praise their souls – Not gawping into silly screens, disappearing down electronic rabbit holes.
The lady whom I spoke to, friendly, smiling, kind, Was so proud of her tatty red hardback, a lucky charity shop find. She told me with conviction she was loving Karen Blixen: Short stories, these, from Denmark – this time, Africa left behind.
The keen lass nearer to the sea, she waved a doorstop so I’d see. Then straight away, back to her words; but don’t think she had to be a nerd: Perhaps not Harry Potter, but a compendium of VS Naipaul – Or there again, Philip Pullman is not to be sniffed at at all.
The youngest of the three, she had little time for me: Like a combine harvester, she ate down each page so voraciously… Well, bless her and bless them all, print-absorbed beside the sparkling blue: Taking a book down to the shore – there are far worse things you could do!
