Horsey Gap

WILD SEALS & ENGLAND'S NATURAL BEACH

I can't believe it's been a week already since I was at this paradise, right here in England. I sort of knew it was there, but I just have never visited this coast properly. I've probably seen every inch of the southern and south-eastern coasts of the country from Thanet in Kent to Penzance in Cornwall. On the western coast, I've been to Great Yarmouth and some parts of the Essex coastline that are quite nice. This, bay far, is the best stretch of beach I've seen on this side of the country.

What's more, there are no hotels or tourist installations on this stretch of beach, which is why it's quite empty and little known. I don't know if causation is correlation here, but it's also home to a lot of natural wildlife. In fact, a tribe of seals live around here and can been seen sunbathing on sections of the beach away from where the humans hang out.

I was excited to see them. I think it was the first time I'd seen seals in the wild. I've seen them in captivity but, having seen them in the wild, I now believe all seals should be free. They are such beautiful, playful, creatures that need a lot of sea space to swim freely. I'm willing to bet that they are on the eastern coast because it is the least busy.

The walk from the closest beach from where I stayed, a beautiful little English village, to Horsey Gap, was about 45 minutes. I had the option of walking directly on the beach, which wasn't easy, and using the dedicated dirt road on the other side of the dune. The beach itself is so sandy that it looks more like a beach in Africa or the Caribbean. Proper sand! It's also quite a large beach capable of holding tens of thousands of sunbathers and holiday makers. Like I said before though, there is no infrastructure to support such tourism. There are a few cottages that are rented out to visitors, such as the one I stayed in, but it's a small village.

Most of the visitors, in my observation, are elderly dog owners. That's the demographic I most encountered. As such, it's a very gentle, quiet and peaceful village. I don't think I've ever seen the sheer variety of dog breeds as I saw there. It goes without saying that the beach is dog friendly. There were just as many dogs as people, if not more.

I don't know if it's because of the lack of rainfall that we've been having lately but it felt like I was back in the Canary Islands, or even Western Sahara, because of how dry everything was. The vegetation is different, of course, but the dry shrubs on sand dunes gave me a throwback to my recent trip.

It was still a little too cold to go into the actual water. I didn't see anyone going in either. Besides, now and again, one could spot a seal scoping the area at a distance. Like scouts, some of them swim out to examine other parts of the beach. They're such majestic little creatures.

I ventured away from the "people beach" to where the sand dunes hand overrun the promenade. The beach on that side was obviously not looked after in the same way judging by the amount of carcasses of unrecognised creatures mingled in the sad. A true nature reserve I guess. It wasn't dirty in the same way, say, humans would ruin a beach with plastic bottles and other such rubbish. It was just unkempt. Kind of how you'd expect a beach to be without much human influence. Yet, of course, the human influence is there. There are demarcations of wooden panels and slabs of stone placed at regular intervals to slow down the advance of the sea as well as multiple human footprints, usually accompanied by a four legged friend or two.

Eventually one of the scouts decided I wasn't much of a risk and came unto the beach. The other one stayed in the water, perhaps more sceptical than his/her friend. There is a 10m distance rule with seals in this area so I stayed away and zoomed in on my camera phone as much as I could. I wish I could get closer, but I know the rules are there for a reason. The seal chilled there, curiously studying me for about five minutes before heading back into the water.

Walking on the sandy beach was getting a little too laborious so I decided to walk over the dunes and walk on the dirt road instead. Much easier.

I finally arrived at "the kiosk and gap in the dunes", as advised by an elderly couple I saw along the way, walking in the opposite direction having already been to see the seals. No need to climb, just an easy walk through the gap. There were sign boards there giving information about the seals, including dos and don'ts. It was surprised by the "seal count", which was at 3,245! I think that's a good number, I'm not sure. Looks like they're thriving.

I then it happened. I couldn't believe my eyes. There he was, approaching me like an old friend, hand out to shake mine. I reached out my hand to shake his. And then he spoke to me in English and handed me a card. Written on the card was "KẸKỌO BIBÉLI LỘFỆ, LỌ SÍ JW.ORG". At first I was confused, but then I suddenly recognised the language it was written in. Yoruba, a West African Language I actually speak and read very well. "Learn The Bible for free, go to jw.org" is what it said.

It was a Jehovah's witness, right there in the middle of nowhere. I had so many questions, but decided not to ask, in case he decided to answer them. Like, what the heck was he doing there? How did he randomly know that I'd know that language? Totally the most random thing that's happened to men in decades. I put the card in my pocket, totally confused. I shook his hand again, and chatted with him for another couple of minutes, and we part ways.

And then, in the background of all that, there they were; scores of seals large and small and of different colours, lying in the sun. Some of them were in the water while some, usually the pups, were quite restless, going in and out of the sea. They looked almost human in their mannerisms. Some of them noticed me and took a cautionary look, then decided I wasn't a risk and carried on chilling out. I spent about 20-30 minutes there, just looking at them, before heading back to my cottage along the dirt road.

I also decided to stop over and check out the bunker I'd spotted earlier on my way to see the seals. I climbed the dunes to the bunker to take a closer look. It stank in there. It's obviously in constant use by people, perhaps some homeless folks, or just beach goers that needed to take a poo. There are no facilities there at all, being a nature reserve of sorts, so I can imagine people used the bunker for that purpose. Disgusting, but I had to check it out. I even went inside to see.

I didn't look up the history of it, and haven't yet, but it looks like a war bunker. Considering the location, I can imagine it was there to house soldiers who could shoot through the windows. That beach does face The Netherlands, so that was probably an issue during WW2.

Peace & Love,

Adé