Estuary shores are a bit different from real coastal beaches, aren't they? I grew up in London with the Thames not far away, and I remember loving the wildness of the foreshore at low tide. Seeing the mudflats and the birdlife gave me more pleasure than going to play at the pebbly Channel coast. Of course, the Welsh beaches where we spent most of my childhood holidays are incomparable, but even so, there's just something about a river estuary.
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| The Westerschelde Estuary |
We happen to live close to the Westerschelde (Western Scheldt) estuary and it's a lovely place to take the dogs for a walk. The spot where we like going best is just to the west of Terneuzen where it's a cross between beach and tidal marshland. When the tide comes in, the land is mostly flooded but at low tide, there are large areas of grasses, tiny creeks and wild plants – great for doggy snuffles, with their pools and rivulets. You can see a little of what I mean from this Google map satellite view here.
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The shady area is the sand and grassy parts mixed. There's
also a big sandbank out in the estuary that shipping needs to be
very careful to avoid |
Last weekend, my daughter and I took our pups there for a good run. It was a lovely morning and the dogs had the best time ever charging about between the rocks and into the undergrowth. I think Zoe ran more than I've ever seen her do and even, almost, got to zoomy stage, something she's not known for at all.
But I think I'll leave the photos to speak for themselves...
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| The tide was coming in when we were there |
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| Happy dogs |
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| "Hey, Lulu, this here's a good sniff!" "Yeah, Zozo, gimme a load of that!" |
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There are pebbles too as well as lumps of small stones
apparently glued together with sand |
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| Just a track through the grasses here |
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| The incoming tide brought some lovely pools for the pups |
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| And out in the estuary, a massive container ship heads for Antwerp |
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| To the east, a chemical factory, which I can't help finding quite beautiful |
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| More doggy pics from daughter's perspective |
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| Such good friends |
We are now into a spell of grey and gloom and it's cold in that damp way that makes me feel unwell–real November weather. I'm not a fan, so fingers crossed the sun peeps through again soon. I've told the weather gods that cold and sunny is fine, just not this endless misty grey. They really need to do something about it. Anyway, enjoy the rest of your week,
allemaal, and the weekend too!
