Come with me, to the caves?
Sometimes it’s hard to stay away from the sea. The weather these past few days has been incredible and, as always, I was drawn like a magnet. In Panorama I mentioned the caves shaped by the motion of the waves on our north east coast. Today I thought I’d take you down there.
Beautiful, isn’t it?
It’s a strange landscape, legacy of a mining past
A scramble across the rocks and we’re there
At high tide the caves are cut off
As the tide creeps in
Viewed from outside they’re less intimidating
Especially the ‘wedding arch’!
I don’t think it’s a place I would loiter on my own. At each visit the shapes have changed a little and there is new evidence of erosion. Just time to show you a few of the rocks in detail. Their colours fascinate- burned by the mines and bruised by the sea!
An endless array of haggard beauty
Or a lunar playground
They speak for themselves, don’t they?
I hope I haven’t tried your patience this morning? I do tend to get carried away with the camera.
You’ll be delighted to know that you can have a little rest from me next Saturday. I’ll be in the Algarve, but I’ll try not to bring back too many photos! Have a wonderful week ahead and please don’t forget to visit Cate at Show My Face with your six words.
See you on Monday, if you fancy a walk.
Well I hope you have brought back many photos both from Algarve and Poland. The cave and beach photos look like my favourite destination.
I went further up the coast and found yet more caves in the week before I went to Poland, but goodness knows when I’ll post them. Thanks for your company, Paula. I’ll come and have a look at yours soon. 🙂
Take your time Jo 🙂 You may not like all of the posts, but make sure to see the Duomo post 😉
Will do! I don’t have to like everything but I always look 🙂
in questo grande paesaggio molto selvaggio hai trovato magnifici spunti da fotografare!
Mille grazie, bella 🙂
A fascinating beach and what rich history. Those caves though and the fact that the tide comes into them were a little intimidating!
Not a place to be on your own but they do have a fascination 🙂
That is just my kind of beach. 😀 Wow Jo. You’ve been taking us to awesome places and showing us the most beautiful views lately.
You guys deserve it! Smiling x
You take us to the most intriguing places Jo! The caves look so eerie and beautiful. I gather loitering around could be risky! 🙂
I found some more caves a little further up the coast on Monday this week, Madhu. Amazing what you can find when you go looking. I’ve only lived here for 60 her-hum years!
Sorry about the name debacle 🙂 I was enroute to Dad’s to do some cleaning before I go away. Me and the Samsung Mini are not your ideal combination 🙂 I’ll be lost without the laptop. Nothing for it but more walking 🙂
Very lunar and wildly beautiful these photos Jo 🙂 I’m sure you’ll bring back more than a few photos from the Algarve 😉 Have a great week and enjoy the sunshine, such a glorious spring we’re having, does wonders for the soul doesn’t it? xx
I was just a little way north of here this morning, Sherri, and whoopeedoo, more caves, pebbles AND sunshine! You too, darlin’ 🙂
😀 xx
I love exploring a new cave, but like you I don’t do it on my own. I think that would be a little creepy. Lovely photos.
I found some more, this morning! Great excitement 🙂 I was on my own but they weren’t so deep. Believe me, I was cautious! The risk of subsidence worries me more than it might once have. Thank you! 🙂
Like you I am drawn to the sea. I love your phrase ‘haggard beauty’ – so descriptive, so evocative. 😉
Hi again! I’m just back from exploring another bit of beach, further north. 🙂 More pebbly but I discovered today that it also has caves. Such excitement! 🙂 Thanks a lot!
Always great to see the sea, and the shore, the beach, the rocks – I particularly like the low angles and the close-ups. Can’t get enough of it!
Thanks, Tobias 🙂 Thought this might be your kind of post.
nice flow- really liked the variety – the last set of rocks were my favs – (close-ups of the lunar playground) – oh and safe travels 🙂 ❤
Thanks, darlin 🙂 Got one last walk to post then a whole lot of catch up before I go, on Wednesday.
the countdown is on…. 🙂
The rocks are beautiful. Sea caves have a special charm with their craggy shapes and views of the sky and sea from a place of darkness. They’re scary too, especially when you have the tide to contend with. I swam inside a deep sea cave in Western Samoa. It was a thrill, but my heart was in my throat the whole time.
I’m not that daring, Nicki. Although I love it, I have a healthy fear of the sea and I’m a pretty poor swimmer. 😦
That is quite some amazing caves. But I still love the photos of the rocks and stones the most. Beautiful colours.
I had to make a return trip to take the rock photos, Otto, otherwise I would have been left behind in the caves 😦 You could spend hours down on that shore. Thanks for your visit 🙂
What a fascinating piece of coastline. I really like your photos.
Some of it’s quite ugly in close up, Suzanne, but it’s so much better than when the pitheads were there. Thank you! I owe you a visit, hon. 🙂
Fabulous photos as usual Jo! Thanks for sharing them. ~Rita
I really enjoyed taking these, Rita. It’s a shoreline you could play on all day. (usually in a coat 🙂 ) Thank you!
I would take it with or without a coat! Lucky you to have such a lovely view.
Nice photos. I especially like the clear blue sky.
Thank you 🙂 It was actually quite warm that day, unusually.
Yes, beautiful. 🙂
Thanks, Nomzi 🙂 Glad you like them.
Great shots of places that most of us never sea – deep into the bowels of the shoreline where only the sea can make such magnificent carvings. I really enjoyed the rocks and stones, for variation and colors.
So many subjects for you to paint, Mary! Thank you 🙂 Hope you’ve had a good weekend.
It was great – lots of outdoor work, that I love. Haven’t painted yet – think that will be tomorrow. Looking forward to you Monday Walk!
I wouldn’t want to be in there when the tide gets high!
Nor me! 🙂
Jo, these caves remind me of Rupert The Bear, they’re just the sort of place where he would have an adventure. Enjoy the Algarve.
How did you know I was a Rupert fan, Jill? I used to love that guy! 🙂 I will picture him with me next time I’m up that way. Thank you!
I loved those books when I was a kid, and my boys did, too. I always thought his best adventures were at the seaside!
The variety in the shapes and the colors of the rocks are amazing.
They are! I love them, Romi. 🙂
Absolutely stunning photography of all the beauty surrounding you Jo! Thanks for sharing hon. 😀 ♥
Hi sweetheart! Happy Sunday to you, and thanks. It’s somewhere I can always find peace.
Hi darling! Thanks and wishing you the same. I am glad. We all need a place like that. 😀 ♥
I love its ruggedness and raw beauty. What did they use to mine?
The whole of this coast was riddled with coal mines, Bebs. The pit heads are long gone but the memories remain. 🙂
Never too much Jo.This post is especially splendid:the shot looking out from the caves and those wonderful detailed shots of the rocks on the beach, and the setting-the-scene shots at the beginning.
I thought you would like this one, Meg. I could see you beachcombing joyfully there. I shed silly tears this morning but my Monday walk will engross me for a little while. Hugs for the sweet photos. 🙂 🙂
Whatever the rock is, Jo, it does give the impression of being fairly friable; I’m with you in thinking it’s not a place to linger in. But oh, how lovely are those wave-formed pebbles ! I particularly love those shaped like huge cigars, and always wonder how that happens.
Lovely post !
Thanks, my lovely! 🙂 I can spend many a happy hour tinkering on a beach.
It’s your inner child. Mine would emerge, too, at your beach !
Great captured as always Jo …Your photography Rocks this time Amazing …I love it 🙂
Must be because you ROCK too, Jake 🙂 🙂 Thank you!
Not keen on caves so it was great to view inside one from the comfort of my sofa!
I usually avoid them too. 🙂 Definitely don’t like the underground variety but these were fascinating and I felt safe in company.
I love the lunar landscape and views, Jo. Not a place to be around when the tide is coming in, but what a fun place to explore. The other explores give perspective to the size of these caves. I expect I wouldn’t be climbing up the steps with stones in my backpack. 🙂
I don’t understand how I don’t have extraordinarily strong leg muscles, Lynne- but I don’t! 🙂 🙂 Sometimes I just stay up on the cliff top, but where’s the fun in that? 🙂
What a wonderful place to explore.
It’s a grand place to be with a camera, Jo 🙂
These caves look great. I grew up in the NE but don’t recognise them at all.
My husband is born and bred here and has never left it but he said to me this morning ‘where are these caves?’ 🙂 They are sometimes under water, I grant you. Just off Blackhall Rocks- don’t know if you’ve heard of it?
No – the places of my youth were Roker, Seaburn, South Shields. I suspect you are a bit further south?
Yes, we’re 17 miles south of Sunderland. 🙂
That’s nothing, but probably seemed a lot more in “the olden days”. I went to uni in Sheffield and thought I was venturing to the Deep South!
The rocks look pretty amazing !
They are! I spent ages taking photos and could have been there still. (perhaps not- the tide would be in!) 🙂
Jo I would love to be wandering on this shore with you. Wonderful vantages from which you have taken the photos. I really felt as though I was there. Now is that the sea breeze I small? 🙂
The smell of seaweed 🙂 🙂 I’m not potholing or playing hide and seek with you in there, mind you! Not even though I like you 🙂
Haha all right just a quick look about.
You never bore me, and I will miss you next Saturday. Have a good trip! I will be flying to Arizona on Thursday next, to visit family.
Bless you, Mlissabeth- that’s so kind of you to say! 🙂 Safe journey! How long will it take?
The time change makes it confusing, but I think we will be in the air about 2 1/2 hours.
Thank you 🙂 Have a lovely time! It’ll help take your mind off all your difficulties (I hope 🙂 ) God bless!
Oh I loved seeing the “haggard beauty” of this awesome place, Jo. Caves are not places I would want to visit alone. Enjoy your trip to the Algarve. I can’t imagine you coming back with less than a thousand pics. 😀 xx
Great photos!!!! What’s the temperature there?
It’s like landscape I’ve seen on Doctor Who. 🙂
Thanks, Linda 🙂 Most unusually it was about 16C that day, but it’s back to its more normal 9/10 today 🙂 Still bright blue though, which helps.
Yes, the Doctor would be right at home here.
oh this is a lovely place to be, I am such a fiend about rocks I’d be taking some home with me!
Thanks for posting these pics!
Not if you had to climb back to the cliff top with them, Kathe 🙂 🙂 Glad you like them.
Oh, I love caves! When I was a child, we used to visit Cornwall, and plenty of caves on that coast. Later on, I went potholing, but that’s history….
Too adventurous for me, Sue! I much prefer to be out in the light. But then I would, wouldn’t I? 🙂
Well, I’m all for the light now….most of the time 😀
Something absolutely unique , for me!
We tend to take for granted what lies on our doorstep, don’t we? But I still find these beaches fascinating. 🙂
Thank you so much for taking us there! Fabulous photos of the cave, fascinating rocks!
It’s a really interesting coastline, Amy. Thank you so much for joining me there. 🙂
The way you go inside and take the photographs, to me, makes this a special shared trip for the viewers. The framing of the dark, looking out at the various views is fascinating and hauntingly beautiful, Jo!
Thank you, Robin 🙂 I wouldn’t have been so daring on my own, but I was in safe hands with our walk leader so I could relax and enjoy taking them.
I love the different rock formations!
Aren’t they beautiful? 🙂
Well done!
Thanks, Vlad! 🙂
I’m on my way! Have a great trip.
It will be a busy one, I think, but the other half thinks he’s going to lie on the beach for a week 🙂 Thanks, Keith!
A beautiful walk Jo! These reminded me very much of or Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick. The tide changes so drastically, one must always beware of timing of the day in order to safely explore the shoreline.
I was with a group of walkers, Lynn, and our leader had checked tide tables- something I never remember to do! 🙂 Thanks- have a happy weekend!
Beautiful rocks. Do you collect them? Pocket a few? I am always nervous of places that get cut off at high tide, but you are intrepid, Jo.
I would be quite fearful there on my own, Ann. There is just a hint of menace to them. I don’t collect, partly because I don’t need a handicap in getting back up to the cliff top. 🙂 Shells, now- that’s different!
Yes, I could see how stones/rocks might weigh you down. Although on a windy day that could be helpful. 😉
Wow, these are amazing photos, Jo. I’m with you, I wouldn’t loiter very long by myself either. 🙂 Thanks for the trip!
I was delighted with them, Jill. I was back on that stretch of beach on Friday because I couldn’t linger too long in the walker’s company. Not near the caves though! 🙂 Thanks, hon! Happy weekend!
Lovely photos Jo. I love the sea and the coast, but I am not sure about caves – apart from great big wide open ones which I couldn’t be trapped in!
I wouldn’t be too happy inside on my own, Elaine, but I was in safe hands that day. 🙂
beautiful, each rock looks like it came from a different place
They do! You can find every shape and size on that beach 🙂
So let me get this straight…If I leave these snowy mountains, there’s like oceans and stuff? And sunshine? You say there’s sunshine? I gotta get out more.
Might be, Ron! You really should check it out 🙂 🙂
It is nice to see pictures of nature instead of man made structures etc. The rocks and pebbles are so interesting.
I went back on Friday to get the rock close ups, Esther. (the walkers are not THAT patient!) I could have been there for hours, but it was a different kind of day. I’m sure you could do some great pebble poems 🙂 Happy weekend!
Just love the stones……really do speak for themselves
Yes, I really think so too, Becky. Save me some fine weather? 🙂
Great shots again Jo – looks a fantastic spot.
The Algarve again, so soon! Lucky you – enjoy x
It’s an incredibly photogenic spot, Debs. I considered a ‘look up, look down’ for you. When’s the deadline? 🙂
Got to go to the Algarve now because it’s Poland at the end of the month. After that we won’t be back til Autumn. 😦
I love the last collage of the lunar playground and the beautifully colored rocks, Jo. I think I’d be a little scared inside of that cave too. I’ve never been a big fan of caves, especially ones that are “blocked off at high tide!” I’d be terrified I’d have calculated the time wrong and I’d be trapped, or worse yet, drowned, inside! 🙂 They are beautiful from the outside though. The water always creates such amazing scenes, doesn’t it? Hope you’re having a nice weekend!
It’s still sunny but cold again, Cathy. More like normal temperatures for this time of year, but we were spoilt for a few days. Got me in the mood for some sun 🙂
I’m not a caves person, either, but I was in good company that day. I’d rather play with the rocks. In fact, I went back for those rock photos. 🙂 Hope you’re making the most of your time off.
I’m back to work now, Jo, but I have another 4 day weekend coming up this weekend. I’ve just booked a flight to Xi’an, home of the Terra Cotta warriors. Trying to squeeze as much as I can in over the next three months. 🙂
Oooh, the Warriors! Fantastic!!! 🙂 Your China ‘list’ must be getting shorter, Cathy 🙂
Yes, my list is getting shorter in some respects, Jo, but also longer. I have a long list of places I’ve heard about and would love to see, but will probably never see as it will be impossible to do it in less than three months with no holidays. I have two more long weekends, but I’m pretty exhausted from fighting the crowds on Chinese holidays. I’m a little worn out from it all. 🙂
I know that feeling, Cathy. I walked my legs off in the Algarve 🙂 Take care of yourself! I’ll visit soon. Hugs! 🙂
I’ll bet you did walk your legs off in the Algarve. All this walking is so healthy and invigorating, isn’t it? 🙂
I love the description of the many textures your portray here as ‘bruised by the sea’. The spaces are so atmospheric, I agree with you I don’t think I would like to be wandering alone without the natural light through these caves. They’re amazing. I loved my morning walk.
Thank you, Lita 🙂 You make great company 🙂
Seeing these amazing images makes me realise how few caves I’ve been in. I don’t think I’d like to be on my own either! I love the pebble shots and the landslide area looks just like some of our Jurassic coast.
Same country, Gilly- just opposite ends 🙂 No- I’d give those caves a wide berth on my own. Much rather play with the rocks 🙂 Happy weekend!
prawdziwie księżycowy krajobraz
Dziękuję Ci bardzo 🙂
Lovely photos Jo – the colours and shapes are intriguing. Enjoy your trip away 🙂
Thanks, Suze. I thought I was abroad already these last couple of days, but we’re back to ‘normal’ again today. 😦
I’m glad the tide was kind to you. It’s gone back to chilly and grey after a superb week during which I achieved a very sunburnt hand!
But only one, Viv? 🙂 We had overnight rain and it’s distinctly chill again now. Nice while it lasted 🙂
I fell asleep on the patio and one hand was not covered. The sun is back after a wet morning.
Some lovely photos there Jo – I’m still waiting for your Instagram debut! Enjoy Portugal!
I think you might have missed it, Richard 🙂 I did post one or two but I’m really not happy with them. I just don’t think of using my phone in the same way as my camera (unless I’ve forgotten it, or run out of battery)
Quite a lot happening socially in the Algarve this trip, but Mick hopes he’s going to laze on a beach at least a little bit 🙂