Well this morning started very misty, with a slowed down trip down the motorway to the hospital to have the old broken mouthed ewe checked out by the "restorative dentistry unit." Not much of a day to blog about, or so I thought when we started out. Having been thoroughly poked, prodded and gazed into, a self restorative trip to the sea was needed. Time being a bit limited today we headed out of the city to Penarth and parked up by the locks. Out of smart shoes and into wellies ( I seem to live in them these days) we then headed off across the stony beach towards Penarth Pier, looking bright in the dim light ...
One could hardly see the sea, the mist was so low, as was the tide ... now Ffin loves the sea and rushed straight ahead for a dip ... only to find he was almost up to his belly in milk-chocolate coloured mud, which didn't smell as nice as its colour suggested! So he stayed up above the seaweed line, racing about inspecting everything, as I slowly strolled along. My intention had been to find something to eat, but talking to a walker who told us that there was nothing open, we turned back having first looked at this cheery bright graffiti ...
It was pleasant to amble back with a native who knew the area well and was informative about the cliffs. They are horizontally striated in red, brown. green, pink and white. Known as The Penarth Group of rocks (or Penarth coeval strata, wherever this appears in Britain). The layers are made up of limestone and alabaster and though some locals have carved it, the texture is too crumbly to really be much use other than as garden ornamentation. The cliffs are so fragile, they are eroding fast due to all the recent rain.
One of them, a small flat, white piece, about half an inch thick, looks like a chunk of Kendal Mintcake, reminding me of youthful expeditions in the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales.
There were large pieces lying all along the foot of the cliffs, which felt tactile and warm.
Penarth has the largest outcrop of pink alabaster in the world! Sadly too soft to use.
There were so many pieces on the high line beneath the cliffs that it was difficult to know which to photograph. There were so many different colours and shades. Some had soft green patterning in them whilst others had the red-brown striations in thin bands. Quite an amazing sight to see but as the erosion is happening at such speed, this is a great worry for all the local residents.
But it was time for the tired (me not the dog), to head steadily homewards, though not without first looking at the locks, and this is were the engineer in me gets full of admiration for the technology used,
not just the lock gates but the machinery that lifts the sections of road to let the boats through to the marina or the bay behind, quite wonderful engineering is involved.
behind the road bridge, Cardiff bay looked almost ghostly as the mist turned to rain, again
Time to get some fish and chips, a sausage treat for the dog and then head homewards.
The sight of these odd striated cliffs was just fascinating and I would have loved to bring some large chunks of alabaster home with me, but pocketed just a few very little pieces.
There were large pieces lying all along the foot of the cliffs, which felt tactile and warm.
Penarth has the largest outcrop of pink alabaster in the world! Sadly too soft to use.
not just the lock gates but the machinery that lifts the sections of road to let the boats through to the marina or the bay behind, quite wonderful engineering is involved.
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