Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside...

Yorkshire holiday 14

There's a long, mainly sandy, beach stretching northwards between Whitby and neighbouring Sandsend, with a line of colourful beach-huts.  The tide was high when I was there but I walked along the promenade and sat for a while on the beach. It's always fun people-watching in those kinds of places. 

The North Sea was unusually blue in the hot sunshine. Though its waves were very muted, as there was little breeze, even so I was reminded of how dangerous even an innocuous-looking sea can be. There were no lifeguards anywhere to be seen, though there was a jet-ski parked up on a trailer. (What good is that?) In the short time I was there, I saw a kayaker in a wetsuit take a tumble out of his kayak, which then drifted out of his reach. He didn't really seem to be able to swim (!), necessitating another swimmer to have to help him bring the boat back in. Shortly after, a tiny child wandered away from his dad (who was engaged in building a huge sandcastle to civil engineering standards). The little boy stood in the edge of the sea where a gentle foam was washing in, followed quickly by a proper wave, only small but quite powerful enough to knock a toddler over. He promptly fell face down in the surf. I was too far away to get to him but luckily his dad looked up and saw him and ran to rescue one very traumatised, choking child! Dearie me! Apart from that, it was an idyllic scene...