Beach Combing

It was my birthday at half term. Many folks might consider birthday celebrations to consist of posh clothes and nights out. I suppose we might be considered a little odd, but I decided a day out on Anglesey would be the thing to do.

It was sunny as we drove past Llandudno and through the Conwy tunnel. It was quite sunny as we approached Bangor, but somewhere about there it turned a little more cloudy and it was certainly windy and very cold. Nothing that thermal socks and three layers of fleece topped with two hats and a waterproof can't fix! My hands suffered the most - fleece gloves being a little too clumsy for small treasures on the beach. We walked first at Red Wharf Bay - trying to beat the incoming tide. These photos are from my husband's camera:

Then back to the van for hot bacon and sausage baps ( we did have lots of healthy salady things with them) and hot tea as essential hand-warmers. Then back to Beaumaris, just after high tide and very cold by now. My son has some reasonable photos of this part of the day - I'll try and get his camera tomorrow. Back towards the bridge at dusk and this floodlit shot of the 'old bridge':

We meant to cook tea part way home, but decided it was too cold and brought the food back with us.

It was a few days before I had chance to examine my sandy treasures. Strange how collecting criteria change. As a child, I was only interested in perfect specimens. Now the little holes, which often feature on shells, are 'stitching holes'; the spiral centres of badly damaged shells both interesting and easy to anchor with simple stitches. Perfect specimens are rather more of a challenge. Pity I previously discarded so many, kindly drilled by nature.

A quick rummage through my 'craft store' combined with recent finds allowed me to produce this. (More details about the background and the merits of not disposing of bead looms on ebay another day):