Sand vs Shingle - Pick a Beach

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Sand Pros:

Can look really good - especially white sand against a bluey green sea.

Sandcastles & digging moats

Wet sand sucking your feet (mmmm, one of my favourite sensory experiences)

Cons:

Sandflies

People kicking sand all over your lotioned body

Sand in your eyes

Sand sticking to your feet when you come out of the sea

Sand in your food

Finding sand in unlikely places weeks after visiting the beach

Can be too hot to walk on

shingle pros:

Doesn't hold the heat so much

Doesn't coat your feet

Skimmers!

cons:

Doesn't look quite so good

Can be jaggy

Noisy

Your preference?

― Rumpie (lil drummer girl parumpumpumpu), Friday, 21 April 2006 13:27 (twenty years ago)

This is a hard choice. I have lots of lovely childhood memories of endless golden sandy South African beaches and gloriously warm sea - and lots of memories of freezing cold English beaches with pebbles and OHMIGOD so cold you don't want to go near the water.

But I still love the shingle. Though I think in the end, I will plump for the sand. It is more comfortable to sit on.

― Henrietta Leavitt and the Cepheid Variables (kate), Friday, 21 April 2006 13:37 (twenty years ago)

I prefer sand, but spent one of the happiest days of my life on Chesil Bank, so I have to vote shingle. Cos you can't lob sand moodily into the sea.

― Mingus Realty (noodle vague), Friday, 21 April 2006 13:38 (twenty years ago)

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y161/MarkGrout/ambeach.jpg

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 21 April 2006 13:40 (twenty years ago)

You can pick up shells and moodily lob them into the sea.

I think my best beach memories are sudden squalls on Cape Cod and Nantucket, and that's all sand, beautiful sand.

Plus, you don't get sanddunes with shingle, and I do love the dunes and the cosy little nests that get made there.

― Henrietta Leavitt and the Cepheid Variables (kate), Friday, 21 April 2006 13:41 (twenty years ago)

The noise of shingle is beautiful, it doubles the value of the sea-surge.

― Boring Someone in Some Dark Cafe (noodle vague), Friday, 21 April 2006 13:43 (twenty years ago)

Actually, yes, the sound is lovely - I sat for hours on Brighton beach, just listening to the alternate smoosh and suck sounds. That sounds dirty, but it is not intended to.

― Henrietta Leavitt and the Cepheid Variables (kate), Friday, 21 April 2006 13:43 (twenty years ago)

Ouch -

ihttp://www.torkington.com/photos/980314/a57.jpg

― Rumpie (lil drummer girl parumpumpumpu), Friday, 21 April 2006 13:45 (twenty years ago)

The pic is from Brighton Beach.

Classic, if only to not have to hose the kids down at the end of the day.

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 21 April 2006 13:46 (twenty years ago)

Mind you, the rats we saw scuttling up and down the dry stone sea-wall at Withernsea the other year have made me a bit wary of loose rock formations. On the other hand, it was Withernsea.

― Boring Someone in Some Dark Cafe (noodle vague), Friday, 21 April 2006 13:48 (twenty years ago)

Are you people insane? Okay, I've never been on a shingle beach but how are you supposed to lay out yr towel and carve a spot for your bum and the back of your head and fall asleep in the sunshine ON SHINGLES?? You need sand for these things, sand to cushion your neck and sand to walk on barefoot down to the water and bury your feet in.

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 21 April 2006 13:48 (twenty years ago)

You'd be surprised how quickly shingle gets comfortable, Laurel. Until you shift position.

― Boring Someone in Some Dark Cafe (noodle vague), Friday, 21 April 2006 13:50 (twenty years ago)

Plus, DRIP CASTLES.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e66/LimitedLiabilityGirl/dripcastle.jpg

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 21 April 2006 13:54 (twenty years ago)

What on earth?

― Rumpie (lil drummer girl parumpumpumpu), Friday, 21 April 2006 13:56 (twenty years ago)

drip castle! classic

― elmo argonaut (allocryptic), Friday, 21 April 2006 13:59 (twenty years ago)

sand can just fuck right off

― Ste (Fuzzy), Friday, 21 April 2006 14:03 (twenty years ago)

Don't fall asleep in the sunshine!

Shingle is your friend in this respect.

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 21 April 2006 14:03 (twenty years ago)

Look, I'm not saying I ENOY scraping it off when I get home, but you just can't have the beach experience without it! Do you go barefoot on shingle beaches? Are the rocks sharp? Does anyone actually SWIM there or is this one of those mental "no, we just look at the water" things?

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 21 April 2006 14:05 (twenty years ago)

Is a drip castle... a.... sand castle? But more so? If so, how so?

― Lucretia My Reflection (Lucretia My Reflection), Friday, 21 April 2006 14:06 (twenty years ago)

Truth! The drip castle steals it for sand. Their like normal sand castles... but gothic!

Why can we not have a golden sandy beach but with a little seam of beautifully flat skimmer stones about half way up? We can. And they are all in Gower, Wales.

Joe

― JoseMaria (JoseMaria), Friday, 21 April 2006 14:06 (twenty years ago)

The best combination is a sandy beach with one of those beachfront open showers on the concrete *by* the beach, so you do not take half the beach home with you.

― Henrietta Leavitt and the Cepheid Variables (kate), Friday, 21 April 2006 14:07 (twenty years ago)

That is true re: shower, but it can't get at the sand UNDER yr suit. Unfortunately.

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 21 April 2006 14:08 (twenty years ago)

Or the sand in your ears. But I always think that finding sand in your ears is a nice reminder of good times past.

― JoseMaria (JoseMaria), Friday, 21 April 2006 14:09 (twenty years ago)

Oh yeah.

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 21 April 2006 14:12 (twenty years ago)

Why can we not have a golden sandy beach but with a little seam of beautifully flat skimmer stones about half way up? We can. And they are all in Gower, Wales

Sounds like Hells Mouth too in Abersoch, but the shingles there are sharp as razors. Also it could well be the worst beach for litter i've ever seen. surfers love it tho.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Friday, 21 April 2006 14:14 (twenty years ago)

The Shingle Solution:

http://www.kids-kaper.co.uk/pages/images/aqualime.jpg

― Rumpie (lil drummer girl parumpumpumpu), Friday, 21 April 2006 14:21 (twenty years ago)

STARRYHEAD, drip castles are made by drizzling a stream of sandy water through yr fingertips and making the drops land one on top of the other. The water soaks down and leaves little sand blobs you can build on. xoxoxoL

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 21 April 2006 14:22 (twenty years ago)

I am amazed Starry has never made a drip castle. Pebble beaches contain bits of chalk for hopscotch on the prom, and flint for starting fires or making arrowheads.

― Mädchen (Madchen), Friday, 21 April 2006 14:35 (twenty years ago)

A shingle beach is made out of shingles, like from a roof?

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Friday, 21 April 2006 14:36 (twenty years ago)

it could well be the worst beach for litter i've ever seen. surfers love it tho.

Connection?

― Boring Someone in Some Dark Cafe (noodle vague), Friday, 21 April 2006 14:37 (twenty years ago)

ah, no sorry, it was just the way i put the two sentences together.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Friday, 21 April 2006 14:40 (twenty years ago)

but to be honest i thought surfers were supposed to care about the quality of the beaches they visit, with the SAS team and all that.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Friday, 21 April 2006 14:41 (twenty years ago)

then again, i don't think there's a great deal they could do about it.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Friday, 21 April 2006 14:42 (twenty years ago)

Laurel, I heart you. Drip castles are my favorite thing ever!

― M. White (Miguelito), Friday, 21 April 2006 14:43 (twenty years ago)

Don't they take a long time to make?

― Rumpie (lil drummer girl parumpumpumpu), Friday, 21 April 2006 15:00 (twenty years ago)

You can make a basic tower in a few seconds. The word 'drip' is deceptive: it's more of a trickle.

― Mädchen (Madchen), Friday, 21 April 2006 15:02 (twenty years ago)

you shouldn't dive for a sweet dig when playing shingle beach volleyball yo.

― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Friday, 21 April 2006 15:07 (twenty years ago)

Sand for lounging on long, hot summer days.
Shingle for grey-day walks along the seafront.

― David Orton (scarlet), Friday, 21 April 2006 15:15 (twenty years ago)

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