Flood Tide

Arnside Railway Viaduct, flood tide, originally uploaded by Bay Photographic.

Ambled down to the seafront today to take a few photos, hoping to make use of the surprisingly sunny morning that had dawned after a week of rain and high winds. As I parked on the promenade it was clear that the tide was about to arrive. I know that in most seaside towns the tide 'comes in' or flows' but in Arnside it Arrives. The stone jetty was occupied by fishermen and a group of canoeists were hovering about in the middle of the estuary.
The bore, when it came past, was only a few inches high, and barely rocked the canoes, but as I walked towards the railway embankment a roar like the sound of a BAC 1-11 taking off (sorry, ex-anorak aircraft spotter reference to an obsolete and very noisy jet aircraft) began to echo around the sea front. The water rushing upriver past the railway viaduct was increasing in volume and creating bow waves on each pillar as if the bridge was ploughing downstream at full throttle.
By the time I had walked past the Fighting Cocks, the usual Arnside seafront landscape of undulating and rippled sand had been replaced by ten feet of swirling murky water.
The roar from the viaduct continued undiminished long enough for me to photograph the entire seafront from the viaduct to Ashmeadow.
The power of the tide in the Bay and particularly in Arnside is either a curse or a blessing depending on your point of view. The spectacle of the bore may attract onlookers and the odd canoeist to the village, but the rush of water and the range between the high and low water marks seems to almost completely preclude the possibility of pleasure boating in the area.
If Arnside was on the Isle of Wight there would be yachts moored four or five deep off the foreshore, boatyards, chandlers and sailmakers would cram every building and alleyway close to the water and the pubs and restaurants would be thronged with people wearing reflective wellingtons and South Atlantic proof trousers.
Sailing heaven or yachtie hell?
Unless SLDC decide to build a barrage across the Bay from Grange to Heysham, we may never know.