Even this morning at 0700 my local beach car park was starting to get busy - 1/4 full I reckon. Admittedly I think most cars were just single-occupancy with locals popping down for a quick swim/paddle before work but a fair few families were already setting up for the day.
IMO you didn’t get there at a reasonable time, I live in a beach town in the SW and trying to get parked and onto the beach at that time of day would have yielded the same results as you!
Yesterday I was parked, on the beach and in the water by 0730 am with my 17 month old. When I left few hours later it was hell on the pavements, roads and car park.
best time of the day. I surfed a north coast beach on saturday morning, got in at 6am, was the only one in until 7.30 when I got out and went to have some breakfast.
I don't get the appeal of the beach when it's this hot - no shade and sand in your sun cream.
We're lucky as the river is at the bottom of the road and it's a balmy 20degrees in the water today!
I got up at 6am yesterday morning, drove for almost 3 hours and spent 8 hours on a quiet beach / swimming in the sea. It was lovely. Sod going to busy places.
I've spent the weekend in and around loch Tay.
It's been good and quiet . Usual squatter of weedge on the south coast arjohnig road but they are easily avoided and you can hear the Skrillex /smell the weed long before you see em.
Hardly seen anyone else by the water despite the village being heaving
Does help that the best conditions have been at tea time - sunset
Saw there was complete chaos at my old local -lunan bay. As a local I would have gone anywhere but lunan bay on a weekend like this.
How was it, I’ve been out this afternoon on the Downs at the eastern end of Brighton. Quieter than any normal nice weekend day by a long way. I think the heat had kept a lot of people away. Even the bits of the SDW were very quiet.
I ended up going Truleigh Hill to Devils Dyke and a play along some of the tracks there. Left at 4PM... it was nearly deserted. It was warm on the clams but up top there was a healthy breeze.
And I cycled into a tree !
It always gets busy where I live on the beach, but somehow seemed worse than normal yesterday. Cars just fully parked on pavements. When I went out for a ride around 11 there was still a great big queue of traffic trying to make it's way onto the beach.
Worst of all was the bastards completely wiped out the stock of the decent 2 for £4 big bottles of beer from the waitrose/garage just down the road, so I had to make do with Heineken.
I rode through the Lakes on Saturday night as part of an audax route, was surprised to see how many cars and vans were in the lay-bys between Coniston and Keswick. Must have been crazy during the day time.
I live 20 mins drive from the lake district. I no longer venture anywhere near before 6pm. It just isnt worth the stress and my blood pressure cant take the bad parking anymore.
Anyhow, 6.30-7pm onwards it usually pretty easy to park up, the weather can still be fantastic. Ullswater is pretty warm now and you can get in 2-3hours of fun without feeling like you are on a crowded beach in benidorm. I tend to go on a weekday now after work.
I did a holiday break pre covid to durdle door one year. We were staying literally walking distance from the beach. I witnessed a busy location in the height of summer (Without the stress thankfully). I would rather have my teeth pulled with pliers than sit in those traffic jams. Horiible
yep... didn't head down until about 7.30pm yesterday (high tide as well so perfect!) We do only live 5 mins away though 😎I don’t get the appeal of the beach when it’s this hot – no shade and sand in your sun cream.
(Also, I actually prefer a shingle beach... don't get sand everywhere, and they're always quieter plus loads of ammo for skimming!)
I’ll second the above, the period 3-8pm is a lovely time to go to the beach,.
If someone needs telling that then they shouldn't be told it! (Of course it's quieter when everyone starts going home for tea..)
Even this morning at 0700 my local beach car park was starting to get busy – 1/4 full I reckon.
Caswell? One of the boys here said that cars were parked on the double yellows all the way up the hill towards Bishopston, causing all sorts of problems with people trying to use the road.
I rode through the Lakes on Saturday night as part of an audax route, was surprised to see how many cars and vans were in the lay-bys between Coniston and Keswick. Must have been crazy during the day time.
It was busy but not mental in the central Lakes (did the four passes loop).
Probably chocka at Glenridding, but I wasn't silly enough to go there.
Drove down to Devon yesterday to see my mum (first time in a year).
So. Many. Caravans.
1. Didn't think that there are so many caravans in the UK.
2. Aren't there supposed to be load limits on these things? Giant caravans towed by tiny cars seems to be the cool thing now.
so I had to make do with Heineken
😱
Unfortunately you have this issue across the country, as above, in the SW, the M5 just stops around Bristol, Bridgwater and Taunton this time of year, the country lanes to get to places like Weston, Burnham, Brean, etc are all blocked up because someone always tries to get their 4x4 and caravan down and judge something badly, or people just wait on the main road for a space and so on, it's just bad driving and indecision that causes a lot of the issues i see, had someone doing 30 on the B roads between Chepstow and Monmouth and indicating left at every turn, slowing down, then moving on again, honestly, if you haven't a clue where you are or are going, pull over safely and get your bearings!
I was on the River Wye this weekend. Very busy, but once on the river you could avoid the worst of it. However, we left the campsite at 7.30am to ensure we got to space to park and launch and run a car shuttle before it was rammed. It was rammed at every bridge or access point, but any more than 200m away from them it was still pretty peaceful, folk simply won't walk from their vehicles.
I'm starting to hate all these "10 best kept secret beauty spots" type messages in the media. Its hypocritical I know, as I've written articles/blogs about lots of places myself, but am avoiding doing so for my own special favourites now!
On the beach for 8am yesterday morning (Talacre, North Wales) with the family and dog, all done for 10:30am, starting to get a bit too warm and other people were appearing *shudders*
Stationary traffic along the A55 heading into North Wales when we were leaving. **** that.
It always gets busy where I live on the beach, but somehow seemed worse than normal yesterday. Cars just fully parked on pavements. When I went out for a ride around 11 there was still a great big queue of traffic trying to make it’s way onto the beach.
Worst of all was the bastards completely wiped out the stock of the decent 2 for £4 big bottles of beer from the waitrose/garage just down the road, so I had to make do with Heineken.
the Co-op on the main drag should have had stocks - and One-Stop always do ... "the Beach" is a little bit of a desert ...
CoOps in killin - braemar and peterculter have all looked like they were ransacked today. -the only thing left in the fridge that was wet and cold was monster.......so I went with some warm delmonte of the shelf.....and frankly I'd have drank my own urine before monster.
Killin wasn't much better on Saturday AFTER the truck had been round for restock
@argee - while I really enjoyed driving for BCA for a couple of years, and much of the area I covered was the South-west peninsula, I’m bloody glad I don’t have to do it now, at this time of year - it really shows just how poor many people’s driving is in heavy traffic.
I drove over to Avebury today, and went for a walk along a byway up to the Ridgeway, along there for a bit then back down the Herepath into Avebury for a pint, and it was lovely, really quiet except for the birds, and barely a soul to be seen - three cyclists and a couple of blokes on dirt bikes, and that was it! Kind of reminded me of my first ride out over the downs around Avebury and Barbury Castle after the Foot and Mouth shutdown, when there was nobody about for the sixteen miles I was riding. Blissfully quiet. 😁