Studland: Inaccurate name, nice beach

Light drizzle was clearing up as we arrived at Studland Beach South for the day trip...

Yesterday was my first visit to the ocean since last September, when I went for a dip in the Atlantic at Ballybunion Beach in Ireland. The calm waters of Studland Beach, near Bournemouth on the South coast, weren’t particularly exciting, but it was a pretty good day in the end!

The clouds drifted off and the sun came out. This is my best attempt at a 'surf' shot, boat wake on a boat ramp...

I carefully used reverse psychology on the weather, leaving my 7D at home because “it will rain”. After some light drizzle as we arrived from the ferry, the day actually cleared up and within an hour the sun was prominent in the blue sky.

It certainly made me realise why the Gold Coast is so proud of its beaches. With the high tide, Studland was a fairly narrow, if nice enough, stretch of sand, slowly sloping out into calm, warm not cold ocean. A picnic lunch, icecream and some frisbee and swimming made the day about as beachy as possible.

British people have such quaint beach culture. Like umbrellas, for example.

All too soon we returned to Bournemouth, where the sunshine kept beaming down. More icecream, a wander through the town and a visit to the pier and fish and chip shop made the day about as 100% predictable beach-touristy as possible.

I'm not convinced it's stable, but it's definitely quite eye-catching.

I can see the appeal of the whole ‘day trip to the beach’. Studland was especially nice because, for the first time in a long time, I didn’t have to listen to traffic noise! And the combination of sand, salt and sun – minus, alas, surf – was a much needed one.

Studland and Bournemouth can't claim to have been graced by waves like this, but I tried not to hold it against them. Pic: Coastalwatch from one of THOSE days at Main Beach.