Thursday 7 June 2012

Wonderful Watcombe

Watcombe is a tucked-away beach in Torquay, where Channel swimmers regularly train. Many people are put off by the walk down, and even more by the steep walk back up. It is a perfect little cove, with many devotees, including Paul, a diver who runs the cafe purely as a hobby and a way of spending time there; he swears his coffees and teas, at just 70p, are the cheapest in the Bay. We nattered for ages, with Paul telling amazing stories about the phosphorescence you can see here at night on warm days in September. Today the sea was finally flat after days of surf and mess from the Easterly winds. Matt and I swam north out of the cove and found a really exciting swim-through channel, suffused with light underwater. Glorious. I'll definitely be back in September for a night swim.

4 comments:

Nick said...

Spohie - I swam at Ness Beach, Shaldon, with some friends last night and there was phosphorescence. Not sure how long it will last.....

Sophie said...

wow! what time of night was it that you swam? I must try going this week. Thanks for sharing

Nick said...

Hi Sophie,

We swam at about 9-10pm. If you swam breaststroke you could see little glints of green around your hands, and if you trod water you could see a green trailing glow around your legs. Magic.

Sophie said...

Thank you Nick, sounds amazing. Will give it a try this week. Fingers crossed!