People arrive, look out at what appears to be a car park made of mud, and assume they have been sold a beach that does not exist. Six hours later the water is up against the sea wall and the whole bay has changed shape.
What is going on
The Bristol Channel narrows as it goes inland, and it funnels the Atlantic tide into a smaller and smaller space. That gives it the second largest tidal range in the world, after the Bay of Fundy. At Weston the water can be a very long way out at low tide and back at the wall a few hours later.
It is also why the sea is brown. That is suspended sediment stirred up by the tide, not pollution.
Planning around it
- High tide is the one to catch for the view, and the only time the sea is actually swimmable off the main beach.
- Low tide gives you miles of flat firm sand for walking, kites and the donkeys.
- The times shift by roughly an hour a day, so a week here gives you both, whenever you happen to be free.
Tide tables are posted along the seafront and every forecast app carries them. Check on the morning, not the night before.
The lake
Marine Lake at the north end of the bay is held behind Knightstone Causeway, so it keeps its sea water whatever the tide is doing. It is over 200 metres long and it is where the cold-water swimmers go, year round, in weather that would put anyone else off.