Weston-Super-Mud

The town of Weston-Super-Mare is a touristy seaside resort about 45 minutes from our house. Many Bristolians flock there for their feet in the sand needs. We’d seen a program on television where they said that Weston was in the top 5 beaches in the UK for making sand castles, so we thought we’d try it out. So, loaded up with a shovel & pail and two dogs, we headed out.

The Grand Pier is a carnival attraction on the beach. The pier originally opened in June of 1904 with a 2,000 seat theatre which was used as a music hall and for opera, stage plays and ballet. Central to the history of the pier is two great fires. The theatre was destroyed by fire in 1930. As the building was underinsured the pier was put up for sale and bought by Leonard Guy, who opened a £60,000 new pavilion three years later. This second pavilion housed a large undercover funfair rather than a theatre. Over the years, new shops and an amusement arcade were added. Then in 2008 fire struck again. The official cause of the fire is unknown; however locals have told us stories from arson to electrical fire to the cooking greases from too many fish & chips. £39 million and two years later, the pier reopened on 23 October 2010. We’ve been told the new pier isn’t as nice as the old, but from the pictures I’ve seen, they look about the same. Guess we’ll never know!


Here’s the part people forgot to mention. The tidal range in the Severn Estuary and Bristol Channel of which Weston beach is off of is about 48 ft. Owing to this large rise & fall in the Bristol Channel, the low tide mark in Weston Bay is about a mile from the seafront. Although the beach itself is sandy, low tide uncovers areas of thick mud. Yes, mud.


Thick, sinking mud.

We never actually saw water on our trip to the seaside.




But the scenery was still nice. Most of the British were settled in along the sand dunes as far from the mud as they could be, enjoying a picnic and tea. (Who drinks hot tea when it is 75*?) Adam & I laughed that they were at the sea side, but as far from the sea as they could get. We however decided to just walk the beach.



The girls loved it. Well... Daisy loved every second of it. I wish I had a video camera that I could have recorded the frolicking in the mud. She made a strange plop, glulp, click sound as her tiny feet galloped through the mud. Ginger was a bit skeptical of the mud. She much preferred the sand. She would come down, sniff it out then walk back up the beach away from us to continue her journey.




We were all coated in mud by the end of our walk. Don’t worry, I brought towels & there was an outdoor shower that we took advantage of before getting back in the car. Plus, everyone got a bath when we got home!


I think we all had a good time. After about 2 hours & 3 ½ miles of walking on a beach you get this from the girls. I love it when we can wear them out!