West Kirby

Cambridge Camera Club reached the finals of the PAGB National Print Championships in Connah's Quay (Deeside, North Wales).  After an uneventful drive up the M6, Ann and I decided to spend what remained of the afternoon at the seaside: West Kirby, to be precise.

 
Not the sunniest of days, but one with the most amazing cloud cover which worked particularly well in Infra Red.

To give a sense of scale, the middle photograph shows a power station and a paper mill on the left, and the new bridge which spans the Dee on the right.  The bottom picture shows circular patterns in the mud caused by some kind of vehicle.  See below for a guess as to the possible culprit.

West Kirby has a rather strange causeway across the mud-flats which forms the boundary of an enormous boating lake.  It's obviously a favourite walk for couples, dog walkers and the like.  When the tide is in, there is the rather surreal sensation that these people are walking on water, when viewed from the Promenade.

The machine which we think must have generated the tracks in the mud is - well - we don't really know.  It's operated by the RNLI and has caterpillar tracks to stop it sinking without trace.  More strangely it has a couple of wooden benches attached to the back, so either it's designed to give joy-rides to tourists or - more likely - to rescue people who have been stranded by the incoming tide.

Whatever else, it clearly needed a good hose-down at the end of the working day...