Sand Bikes, On The Beach At Margate, Kent

Sorting through some of the last of my 2015 photos, I came across a trip to Margate on the Kent coast.  The trip took place on the 25th October, just look at the weather, beautiful for that time of the year.  We were visiting with family……..they had a terrible job pulling me away from the bikes, I’m not even sure what kind of bikes they are.  I just love taking action photos, you never know what’s going to happen, and the race was a surprise, as we had no idea it was taking place.  Later on in the day, we walked back along the beach, and it was as if nothing had ever happened, not a tyre mark to be seen.

Also a nice addition for my ‘Occupation Category’ 

Margate Lighthouse, Kent

I bought a lighthouse book the other day ‘Lighthouses of England -The South East’, and while reading through it, I recognised a lighthouse.  At the end of October 2015 we went to visit our daughter and her family in Kent……looking back now, the weather was amazing for the end of October.  Anyway we had gone to do Halloween with our youngest grandson and he wanted to go to the beach, like they all do at 6.5 years old.  So we arrived  at Margate, a seaside town and the place was packed, there was some kind of bike race on.  I know nothing about this sport, but I took loads of photos because I liked the way the bikes moved on the sand.  I’m glad I did, because I got the lighthouse in a few of them.

A little history……Margate’s first lighthouse was built in 1828 to mark the town’s newly built breakwater. The original lighthouse was a round Doric column.  It had a square gallery and cylindrical lantern, but this tower became a victim of the Great Storm of 1953.   Strong seas pushed the old tower over, leaving it leaning at a precarious angle for several hours, prior to it collapsing, along with a large section at the end of the pier.  In 1955, the current octagonal concrete tower was built, topped by a copper lantern housing a fixed red LED light.