Outing to Dawlish

We are both so busy at the moment with our impending house move and there’s always something needing doing, but the weather was so lovely today that after lunch my hubby said, “Do you want to go out?” We decided to let all the work go hang for an afternoon, and set off to the seaside, ending up in Dawlish, where I took some of my best seaside photos a while back – that time was a mid-winter visit – really my favourite time to visit the sea.

Armed with my camera, we set forth and I got some more photos of nice old boats and ropes and grungey rust – I was in my element!

Wonderful encrustations of rust. The rust had even stained the stones underneath the metal railings. Also, I love the heavy duty wire netting holding the stones in place beside the railway.

The rust in the next picture reminds me of a contour map. Look at those gorgeous colours…

Boat decay… The underside of this upturned boat was worn away and you could see the layers of colour of the different paint layers it had received over the years.

Boat lines. Again, I love how the red paint has worn away.

Boat stacks. I love the faded colours – the once bright paint has weathered down to subtle shades as a result of exposure to salt, sun and wind.

The subtly coloured brick wall is a perfect foil for the lobster pots.

One of my favourite shots from today – ropes and floats.

Giant lobster pot. I love the rings around the top, made from bits of old tyre.

Lobster pots en masse. Gorgeous subtle shades, and lots of texture.

A mist of fishing net. I love how the faded turquoise floats are partially covered with the layers of net.

Fishing net ropes. Lovely textures and subtle shades again.

This heap of boat pennants, floats and ropes reminds me of part of a stage set for the American Civil War… battle pennants and canon balls!

More delicious rust. I love how the rust interacts with the remnants of paint, and how the surface has bubbled up, revealing more layers of rust beneath.

Steampunk decay. Fabulous heavy gearwheels and flaking rust. (I think I’m a rust junkie…)

Rust acne? Eruptions of rust!

Even the landscape in Dawlish is rusty. It is surrounded by red sandstone cliffs and the railway tunnels its way through. I love the strata and the weathered shapes, and the texture of the larger stones in amongst the layers.

Out of this barren rock, amazing to find small plants appearing to thrive! In this picture, I also love the pebbles embedded in concrete – the decaying remnants of some man-made structure.

In a world of entropy and decay, beauty is all around us. Even things falling into decay and oblivion can be beautiful, if we only open our eyes and look.

A life on the ocean wave – and a life on the edge!

I love the beautiful lines of this boat – irresistible.

Returning to the car, along the sea front wall beside the railway, as the sea made the sound of thunder as it collided with the undercut of the sea wall, the afternoon sun cast interesting shadows.

What I love about the seaside is not sun and sand and bathing, and all the conventional things people love about it, but the juxtaposition of the man-made and the natural, and the effects of natural forces of erosion, wind, water and salt on everything. The colours become muted and outlines become softened. Objects are redolent of earlier industry which is also now decaying and in decline – there’s a nostalgia about it all, and visions of personal struggle against the elements in boat, net, pot and winch. Most people observing these things tend to think they are old and ugly, if they even notice them at all.