Coastlines
Headlands Make Their Own Wind, and It Is Stronger Than the Forecast
Air behaves like water when it meets an obstacle, which is why the walk around a point is always harder than the walk to it.
Aloke Banerjee
Contributing writer, Travel Near Sea
Aloke writes about coastlines and walks most of the ones he covers.
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16 articles
Coastlines
Coastal Erosion Is Not Slow When It Is Your Footpath
Retreat rates quoted in metres per year hide the fact that most of it happens in a handful of nights.
Coastlines
Drowned Valleys: Why Some Coasts Have Deep Water Far Inland
Rias and fjords exist because sea level rose into valleys that rivers and glaciers had already cut, and that history shapes the…
Coastlines
Barrier Islands and Lagoons Are Coastlines That Are Meant to Move
A low sandy strip with quiet water behind it is a temporary structure, and the places built on it live with that fact.
Coastlines
Estuary Coasts Look Empty at Low Tide and That Is the Point
Mudflats are not a failed beach; they are the productive part of the system, and they run on a strict timetable.
Practicalities
Reading a Tide Table Properly, Including the Bits People Skip
Four numbers a day describe most of what a coast will do, provided you get the port, the time zone and the correction right.
Practicalities
Packing for a Coast Is a Wind and Salt Problem
The forecast temperature is the least useful number for deciding what to bring to a shoreline.
Practicalities
The Questions Worth Asking Before Booking a Room on the Water
A sea view is priced as a feature and behaves as a variable, and the useful questions are about noise, distance, tide and wind…
Practicalities
Linear Coast Walks Are a Timetable Problem Before They Are a Fitness One
Walking a stretch of coast one way is far better than walking it out and back, and the return transport is what makes it possible.
Practicalities
Where the Money Actually Goes on a Trip That Ends at the Water
Coastal costs cluster in transport, parking and the peak weeks, and most of them can be moved rather than reduced.
Coastlines
Caves, Arches and Stacks Are a Cliff Coast Caught Mid-Sentence
Each of those features is one stage of a single process, and knowing the sequence tells you what a headland used to be.
Coastlines
Mangrove Coasts Are Neither Land Nor Sea for Miles
A shoreline with no defined edge, built by trees that trap sediment, drained by creeks and rearranged twice a day by the tide.
Coastlines
Tidal Range Is the Number That Changes Most Between Coasts
Some coasts move a few centimetres between high and low water and others move the height of a house, and almost everything follows…
Coastlines
A Cold Current Can Run Along a Hot Coast All Summer
Latitude tells you what the air will do and almost nothing about the water, because some coasts pull cold water up from below all…
Practicalities
Steps, Sand and Slipways: Reaching the Water With Limited Mobility
Coastal access is frequently decided by a flight of steps, a soft surface or a gangway whose angle changes with the tide, and the…
Practicalities
Water Taxis and Small Passenger Launches: The Last Mile by Boat
Between the ferry network and your own boat there is a layer of small licensed craft that run on demand, on the tide, and on…