Beach Combing

Hello

Had a little holiday in Northumberland, 2.5 miles from Seahouses on the coast.  It was a fantastic location, the Camping and Caravan Site was just a stones throw from the beach so Buzz got his early morning walk along the seashore.  He doesn't seem to get the concept that holidays are for for resting, not getting up at 7am for a walk!  One morning he work me up at 6.30 but I didn't really mind as it gave us the beach to ourselves.

He mooched about while I looked for treasure, well, sea glass and stones.

Found this neat heart shaped stone.  Also, lots of sea glass which included a glass marble which probably came out of an old pop bottle, like the way the sea has worn the surface.

The round stone ball was near the glass marble.  When I first picked it up I thought it was musket shot but it looked like stone, Googled it and no, they were made of lead.  So showed it to someone who is into archaeology, she thought it was a clay marble but my friend Julie went to a little museum at Eyemouth which is a lot further up the coast.  She said that there were a few of these stone balls on display along side cannon balls, they were called stone shot and were packed into cannons and fired at ships, they ripped through anything they hit, including people and sails.  Wonder what mine hit if anything!  Must have been in the sea for a few centuries.

Julie did some research for me, and this is what she found.

• Round shot was made in early times from dressed stone, referred to as gunstone (Middle English gunneston, from gonne, gunne gun + stoon, ston stone) but by the 17th century, from iron. It was used as the most accurate projectile that could be fired by a smooth bore cannon, used to batter the wooden hulls of opposing ships, fortifications, or fixed emplacements, and as a long-range anti-personnel weapon. However, masonry stone forts designed during the early modern period (known as star forts) were almost impervious to the effects of round shot.

So there you go, it is really old.

I put the sea glass into jars until I think of something to do with it, the colours are perfect for the summerhouse.

Buzz did his own beach combing, swapped his toy for a bit of old seaweed that looks like a leg off an Alien! It was his treasure and he didn't want to give it up, it must have tasted salty.

Did a little sewing while I was away.  Made a little pincushion jar for tiny pins.

I went riding along the beach from Seahouses to Bamburgh Castle, it was brilliant galloping along the sands. We even rode through some very big sand dunes which was something I had never done before, lean forward going up and well back on the way down! The castle looked magnificent.  The ride took 2 hours and was very energetic and I had to push bike 2.5 miles to the stables from the Camping site.  Gosh, I felt it afterwards!

Take care

Sharon