Suggest a beach please.

[Globalti]

I'm depressed, haven't had a holiday this year, weather has been awful, had 2 weeks stuck indoors doing DIY and watching the rain while Mrs RR nags me.

I want to take my son to a proper beach with golden sand where we can swim, lark in rock pools and dig channels for the streams. All the beaches around the NW are mud and the resorts are filthy. Can anybody suggest a nice sandy beach with dunes within a couple of hours drive of Manchester?

 

[Graham O]

Can't guarantee the weather, but Aberffraw on the west coast of Anglesey is magical. Park at the side of the road and then walk down the river to a long wide beach, backed with dunes. Rock pools at low tide and river channels to dam. Last time we were there, the sand was almost too hot to walk on! (And before anyone asks, yes, it was this year!) With a bit of luck we'll be there this weekend.
Apart from Aberffraw, alternatives are Cable Bay (quite small), Newborough (very big, good walk to Llanddwyn Island), Rhosneigr (gets crowded, but full of watersports). If you go a bit further and are early in the day (the car park gets full), Rhoscolyn is a lovely bay.

Hope that helps.

 

[dan_bo]

Nine hour drive, Redpoint beach


Either that or go to Rhyl sun centre

 

[derall]

Nine hour drive, Redpoint beach

I'll see your nine hour drive and raise you a two hour ferry trip.

Any of the beaches on Colonsay, but Kiloran Bay especially

 

[ColinJ]

I can't help you with a proper beach RR, but if you ever have a free sunny day and fancy a 'beach' with a difference, why not ride the Mary Towneley Loop round to Walsden and then nip over the hill to Gaddings Dam above Todmorden? It's a disused reservoir up on the tops which is used by the local folk for swimming and sunbathing. It has a beach-like 'shore' in places.

 

[swee'pea99]

Can't guarantee the weather, but Aberffraw on the west coast of Anglesey is magical. Park at the side of the road and then walk down the river to a long wide beach, backed with dunes. Rock pools at low tide and river channels to dam. Last time we were there, the sand was almost too hot to walk on! (And before anyone asks, yes, it was this year!) With a bit of luck we'll be there this weekend.
Apart from Aberffraw, alternatives are Cable Bay (quite small), Newborough (very big, good walk to Llanddwyn Island), Rhosneigr (gets crowded, but full of watersports). If you go a bit further and are early in the day (the car park gets full), Rhoscolyn is a lovely bay.

Hope that helps.

+1 for Anglesey - magical place, wonderful beaches. Take everything you need tho' - not much there apart from sand.

 

[Globalti]

ColinJ that's a useful recommendation, thanks. I've walked past the dam and even played on a massive snowdrift we found behind the dam one winter but never thought you could swim there. We could approach it by MTB along the drains from The White House, which is one of my favourite flat rides anyway.

 

[Dayvo]

Haven't been there since the 70s, but Filey beach in Yorkshire was always a great place to spend long hot sunny days!

 

[ColinJ]

ColinJ that's a useful recommendation, thanks. I've walked past the dam and even played on a massive snowdrift we found behind the dam one winter but never thought you could swim there. We could approach it by MTB along the drains from The White House, which is one of my favourite flat rides anyway.

Ah yes, this way...

It's the Pennine Way footpath but it should so obviously be a bridleway that I've ridden it myself from time to time.

 

[Globalti]

You can do a completely flat but quite technical in places 9 mile circuit of the whole drain system, I took my Mum aged 73 around on a borrowed bike and she loved the ride; you are on top of the Pennines and there's a great feeling of space and light up there with skylarks twittering and the sparkling water. There's also Cow's Mouth quarry where you can go bouldering.

Most of the footpaths in England were bridleways until local authorities downgraded them in the 50s to escape the need for maintenance to BW standards. Read about this on the website of the South Pennines Packhorse Trails Trust, here: http://www.rightsofway.org.uk/sppttfront.htm

 

[philipbh]

My Manchester connection suggests St Annes (as in Lytham..)

Its very popular with his kids

 

[wafflycat]

Northumberland.. get thee to Northumberland lad.

Whitley Bay lighthouse.. causeway walkable at low tides - loads of rock pools either side - used to spend many a happy hour there as a kid.

The beach at Whitley Bay to Tynemouth

http://www.toojaded.com/newcastle/thumbs/whitley_bay_1_tn.jpg

Abit further north...
Seaton Sluice Harbour
http://www.coast-and-castles.co.uk/Images/towns_accomodation/seatonsluice/boats.jpg

Seaton Sluice beach

http://www.fototime.com/0DA14A2849814E79BF1C066A50B29140/standard.jpg

Craster village

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2397/1797796525_6c0b4eea32.jpg?v=0

Druridge Bay (fabulous dunes)

http://www.northumberlandlife.org/nwindsurfclub/images/druridge-bayWEB.jpg

Bamburgh. Fabulous Castle, beach & rock pools..

http://robertarood.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/bamburgh_castle.jpg

A bit further north (south of Berwick).. Scremerston for great rock pools and rock formations plus sand..

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_DphKQ5AL-sQ/R..._ZeSlpuKyE/P7252528+Day+4+Scremerston+BBQ.JPG

 

[andyoxon]

Can't guarantee the weather, but Aberffraw on the west coast of Anglesey is magical. Park at the side of the road and then walk down the river to a long wide beach, backed with dunes. Rock pools at low tide and river channels to dam. Last time we were there, the sand was almost too hot to walk on! (And before anyone asks, yes, it was this year!) With a bit of luck we'll be there this weekend.
Apart from Aberffraw, alternatives are Cable Bay (quite small), Newborough (very big, good walk to Llanddwyn Island), Rhosneigr (gets crowded, but full of watersports). If you go a bit further and are early in the day (the car park gets full), Rhoscolyn is a lovely bay.

Hope that helps.

Did the sand glow strangely at night?

South Wales - Pembrokeshire is 4hrs drive - loads of beaches Whitesands nr St Davids, Newgale, Broadhaven South (great, but no RNLI) nr Bosherston.
Nth Devon - probably 5 hrs, but Woolacombe is excellent, with Rockham bay nearby, also Exmoor/Lynton/Lynmouth.

 

[andyoxon]

This is useful if you haven't already seen it...
http://www.goodbeachguide.co.uk/

 

[BigonaBianchi]

Holkham beach norfolk?