July 2010 (ROTM #19) Perranporth Beach, Cornwall, UK

I've already done this beach a few months ago, but it was with dreary pictures I took in the middle of a UK winter. Much better to show English beaches in all their summer glory! And it is summer in the northern hemisphere. Here's proof that people really do swim en masse in the summer in England....and being obedient beach swimmers they have all been shepherded onto the safer shallower sand bars between rip currents. You can see dark rip channels all the way down the beach. Pretty easy to spot if you know what you're looking for.

 The English lifeguards (run by the RNLI) are pretty proactive, constantly moving the flags and getting on the loud hailer telling people where to move as conditions change with the tide. Amazingly, and unlike Australia, the swimmers actually respond immediately and politely!

 Thanks to Dr. Tim Scott for these pictures. I went over to Plymouth last year as part of his PhD examination, got to know him, found out that he takes fantastic pictures and some of them have ended up in my beach book, including the back cover! Funny how things work out.

Beachgoers doing the right thing swimming between the flags