Post by Simon on Feb 28, 2009 6:41:38 GMT -5
Grockles a term for tourists in Devon. Herself and I went down south, to sunny Ilfracombe. This was the beginning of February, it was freezing with windchill about -6, which for us is damn cold!
We had a wander around while we were there, I've tried to include what the pics are about.
This stretch of coastline was a favourite for smugglers and wreckers. I didn't get any shots while the tide was out but the rock formations are truly amazing.
Click a pic for a larger image
Not sure what the white stuff is but it runs in seams some over a foot thick picked some up on the beach will have to take some pics. I think it's calcite, not really sure tho.
Even the birds were reluctant to come out we think they're Puffins. You can just see them in the first pic, the compact camera I was using has a reasonable zoom but not good enough to pull them right in.
More of the rocks imagine the damage done to a wooden ship, back in the days most sailors couldn't swim. Any that did survive were despatched by the wreckers when they were found. The lighthouse was probably built on the very rock the wreckers would have used to lure in the merchant ships.
Then we went to Watchett, a small coastal village that has some amazing cliffs that are eroding at an incredible rate.
TheMTB fast attack craft is in Watchett harbour, see the following link for more info. tinyurl.com/ct765y
No Idea what the white stuff is yet again good aren't I. As well as being in nodules it occurs in sheets it is very soft and crumbly. The chunk in the second picture is in a box in the garage. Didn't find any fossils either we were too far east apparently the colourful cliffs don't have the fossils.
Kind of cool a rock water fall you can see in the third picture below a sheet running from bottom middle to top right it does make the cliffs very unstable. The fossil bearing cliffs are a bit further round the headland, but by this time madam was flying the white flag, I swear she's part reptile, "I'm cold and want to go back." with that she turned and high tailed it back to the car!
The foreshore has some strange formations
Finally a scene of tranquillity in the country, and behind me, a nuclear power plant.
Hope I haven't bored you, thanks for looking.
Simon
We had a wander around while we were there, I've tried to include what the pics are about.
This stretch of coastline was a favourite for smugglers and wreckers. I didn't get any shots while the tide was out but the rock formations are truly amazing.
Click a pic for a larger image
Not sure what the white stuff is but it runs in seams some over a foot thick picked some up on the beach will have to take some pics. I think it's calcite, not really sure tho.
Even the birds were reluctant to come out we think they're Puffins. You can just see them in the first pic, the compact camera I was using has a reasonable zoom but not good enough to pull them right in.
More of the rocks imagine the damage done to a wooden ship, back in the days most sailors couldn't swim. Any that did survive were despatched by the wreckers when they were found. The lighthouse was probably built on the very rock the wreckers would have used to lure in the merchant ships.
Then we went to Watchett, a small coastal village that has some amazing cliffs that are eroding at an incredible rate.
The
No Idea what the white stuff is yet again good aren't I. As well as being in nodules it occurs in sheets it is very soft and crumbly. The chunk in the second picture is in a box in the garage. Didn't find any fossils either we were too far east apparently the colourful cliffs don't have the fossils.
Kind of cool a rock water fall you can see in the third picture below a sheet running from bottom middle to top right it does make the cliffs very unstable. The fossil bearing cliffs are a bit further round the headland, but by this time madam was flying the white flag, I swear she's part reptile, "I'm cold and want to go back." with that she turned and high tailed it back to the car!
The foreshore has some strange formations
Finally a scene of tranquillity in the country, and behind me, a nuclear power plant.
Hope I haven't bored you, thanks for looking.
Simon