Outdoor Discoveries

In need of some tidal awareness

Recent Irish rambles have brought home to me an important lesson to which I hardly devoted much attention before. It may be because I have spent much of my life inland and that I am attracted to a variety of hill country. The subject pertains to tides.

It is true that I made my over and back from the tidal Cramond Island near Edinburgh without incident. That perhaps was because the tide tables were posted on signs nearby. Then, I could assess if such a crossing was feasible so as now to get marooned. That is one of the few, if not the only tidal island that I recall visiting.

Otherwise, risk averseness has its part to play. Worms Head near Rhossili on the Gower in Wales comes to mind. The sight of others did little to encourage me out there. Knowing that I was without important knowledge was enough to stop me needing the services of the Coastguard. No rescue is needed when the risk is not taken.

The same applied to a visit to Galway where I did make my way out and back from Illaunafamona, near Salthill, without getting stranded on there. However, the encroaching tide forced me to go through a caravan park to get back on the return route to Galway to catch a coach back to Cork. Leaving later would have been better but for having made an advance booking; the evening was brightening, so it would have been worthwhile. Still, I got to the Coach Station with minutes to spare. My trespassing nearly cost me that too, and landowners may not have been impressed with a stranding on an island that they owned if it were to happen. The caravan park owners did not intercept me either, yet it is not something that I plan to repeat.

A stroll around Crosshaven was nowhere as dramatic. However, the tide was in, which meant that the absence of a cliff path sent me on a circuit that I had not planned. Given the other delights that were encountered, I do not feel short-changed. There had been a walk along the Greenway from Carrigaline in good autumn sunshine, and all else was favourable until I had to alter my route. In fact, I had the sun at my back, a favourable position for photographic exploits.

My having acquired a new base in Cork means that I now am nearer the coast than I ever have been and for longer too. That means that I get to notice the coming and going of the tides more than I ever have. A walking route that goes along the shore of Lough Mahon assures that. The mudflats that low tide exposes attracts its share of bird life too, so a set of binoculars has its uses here.

The subject of tides also cropped up on a circuit of Cork Harbour’s Great Island that started and ended in Cobh. A narrow road along the north side of the island was seeing some encroachment through the very drainage culverts that ought to drain it. There were no such issues around Marloag Point and any other place that I passed, yet I did not delay. The hour of day ensured that as much as the chances of getting wet feet.

The cumulative effect of these encounters with sections of coastline is that I need to add checks of tide times to weather, transport and other things. Recalling the speed of tides on the island of Jersey accentuates this. It is little wonder that the U.K.’s Met Office includes this kind of information with its coastal location forecasts. It builds out the picture, especially when seas are roughened by gales.