It’s been two years ….

Since moving here to the South Shore, I always try to do the Gaff Point hike at least once a year. But to my amazement, I discovered last night while looking through my photo files, that it’s been two years since I last did the hike ~ in reality it only seems like a few months ~ such is the rate that times passes by.

The Gaff Point hike starts out at the stunning 3Km crescent shaped Hirtles Beach, offering a beautiful beach wander to the trailhead. When I do the hike I always plan to arrive just after high tide, this allows me to walk on sand a few hours later when the tide is lower at the end of the hike, rather than on pebble stones and beach rocks. I prefer to navigate the pebble stones and beach rocks at the beginning of the hike.

To achieve this, I was on the 10.00am ferry and arrived at Hirtles Beach half an hour after high tide ~ as the official “South Shore Tide Watcher”, it is my job and duty to always know the tide times …!!!

As usual the hike was absolutely marvelous, with its stunning seascape views, fantastic scenery with a mixture of beach, estuary, forest, heather and rugged coastline with steep cliffs. Along the way, it was a joy to stop and chat with other like-minded hikers, who seemed to be enjoying the morning outing as much as I was.

The Gaff Point hike is always a great day out, I may go back again during mid to late October to see what the fall colours look on the trail.

Where did August go …?

The calendar tells me that tomorrow I wake up in September, but I actually feel that it should be mid-July …!!!

This summer is just flying by, I recall clearly August starting in what seems like just a few days ago, and now it is Labour Day weekend  ~ Where did August go ...?

While deeply and seriously thinking about that question, I took what turned out to be a brief sunset walk on Crescent Beach. The tide was too high for my usual full length beach wander, so after taking a couple of photos of the sun going down, I headed off to Bush Island. On the island I enjoyed the company of Great Blue Heron, who watched with much interest, as I tried to get that perfect sunset photo.

As for an answer to that question ~ I have absolutely no idea ….

This evenings pics ~ 

I often think to myself ….

………… “it does not get any better than this.” ~ But frequently it actually does get better, in fact I think it gets better all the time.

Once again, I was out early for a beautiful morning beach wander, which extended with a walk onto Bush Island. While on the beach part of the outing, I noted that the handful of locals I passed, all had broad smiles on their faces ~ I suspect they know it gets better ….

This morning’s pics ~