The scary legend of the Broomway

I don’t know how true all this is – but it makes a damned good story… Keep out of the coffins folks!

Read more about it here, here, here and here.

‘For anyone who enjoys wandering out onto coastal flats during low-tide to explore the terrain, Britain’s Broomway has all the appearances of the perfect gateway. The tidal foot path, so-named for the hundreds of broomsticks that once marked its boundaries, has for nearly 600 years provided access from Essex, England to the farming communities of nearby Foulness Island.

‘The Broomway, however, is more dangerous than its name implies… For at least 100 people, and likely many more, it’s one walk they never returned from.

‘To access the Broomway, you must first leave the mainland of Essex at a point called Wakering Stairs. You then reach a causeway of brick and debris that takes you over the ominous Black Grounds, a kind of quicksand that locals refer to simply as “coffins.” Once on the Broomway, you’ll walk across a firm, silvery mudflat called the Maplin Sands.’

The manliness of sailors

the-manliness-of-sailors

‘I’ve just finished writing up a paper on images of Jack Tar between 1760 and 1860. I’ve rather fallen in love with Jack Tar. When my analytical brain was idling, I wondered why his figure appealed to me. After all, he’s often thoughtless, drunk, and womanizing.’

For the rest, see:

All the Nice Girls Love a Sailor

Folkestone SALT sea and the environment festival is this weekend

Folkestone SALT

I’ve just learned this is going off this weekend – and that it will include our pals Sylvia Needham and Keith Kendrick performing and running a sea shanty workshop, a fascinating looking talk about historical maps of the Folkestone area, a lecture on our changing coast, and another on the life that the sea contains and what we can learn from it.

Click to check the programme, and get along if you can…