Thread: Bucket and spade, sand castles and fun.

I am not a fan of the beach well not sitting on it all day,I prefer it when the tide is going out and it is empty of people. What I have not seen is kids with buckets and spades making castles or just playing in the sand, they tend to be in the water or playing ball games.

Do spanish kids not play in the sand ? does dog poo and general rubbish have a part to play in that I wonder ?

Another thing I notice on my return from UK is that I seldom, if ever, hear the neighbours kids laughing kids around here when out playing seem to shout and scream but no laughing ...

Val, have you tried to make a sandcastle with fine gravel, its an art I can tell you. However down in Fuengirola, the beach artists make some fantastic sand sculptures so it cant be that bad. The tide only ebbs about 3 inches down here so watching the tide go out would be a long haul!!!!!. Like you, I do not like beaches as I was brought up in a seaside town in North Wales and beaches hold no appeal to me whatsoever.
Nice to see you back after your Scotland tour! My late brother in law lived in Keith, near Huntley and had a croft overlooking Spey Bay and thats it as far as Scotland is concerned. Been there once and thought it was on par with Wales, rugged and the scenery was breathtaking.

Lol keddyboy been years since I made a sand castle with any kind of sand, it looks okay where our boat is though and the tide leaves enough to hold my interest :-) I have seen the beach sculptures at Albufeira they are amazing.

Thanks, it is good to be back, much as I love Scotland that trip was a bit of a disaster. Keith/Huntly area and the river Spey are lovely areas, once would not be enough.

we also have the beach sculptores up this way. her the kids do build sand castles etc, often trying to copy the pros! they also love to get themselves absolutely covered in sand then run and wash it off in the showers! (rather than the sea!)
We don´t have a big problem with dog mess, do you? (on the beach that is, the streets are a different story!)
I could never make sand castles in the UK as my local beach was a fine shingle, you had to dig down a long way before you found anything fine enough for building with! what a deprived childhood i had eh?!

Not had much experience of the beaches here but had heard some are not as clean as you would want your kids to be playing in it never mind up to the ears in it. From the few times I have walked at Mazagon esp up the river it seems clean enough, any rubbish seems to be collected and bagged by someone, plenty shells for a tideline searcher

Ah well dogs are not allowed on the beaches round here and the poop patrol seems to be on top of any leftovers on the pavement or it maybe the thought of the instant fines are encouraging proper disposal in the doggy pins ;-))

Our beaches also have some awsome sand sculptures and at times you see the more basic moats and castles created by the kids.

Quite often you can see both adults and childrens walking along the beaches covered in black mud from the nearby mud baths. After baking for around 20 minutes they then return to the mud baths to wash it off.

Is the rule no dogs between April and Oct or is that figment of my imagination ?

No dogs at all for our beaches ;-))

They are allowed on the pathways just off the beach and out of season down the causeway but we have the poop control out and about ;-))

That sounds better to me insert thumbs up emoticon