I had eyed up this day as a great one to attempt an unsupported FKT! With full moon the following day, the tides were quite large (low of 2.2m) so I expected it to be a day where gullies would be a little shallower and where I wouldn't be cutting it too fine with the incoming tide at the end. In the days preceding, thunderstorms were forecast – not ideal when out in flat, wet intertidal areas! In the end, a weather window opened at the perfect time, and the weather was 21c with sunny periods.
I set off at 12noon from the Dolphin public house. With low tide at 13:09 and having studied a tidal graph on https://easytide.admiralty.co.uk/ , I hoped to start and finish within the lowest tidal period of the day. Doing this unsupported, I carried some gels and 1 litre of water in a running vest and a phone for safety.
It was around the oyster beds before Seymour Tower that I found some gullies to be quite deep and from there on in pockets until Green Island. I picked sensible routes through and around gullies, although some were still up to knee depth, so I had to break from a run to a wade. The alternative would be to scramble over high rocks, but since these were covered in slippery seaweed, I thought they would be a harder challenge. I would assume that the coastline here is constantly evolving with seasonal variations and even individual storms changing the shape and characteristics of gullies. I do wonder though whether it would be a little easier and the water less deep in places at an even lower tide – but timing this on a weekend in daylight hours in nice weather is challenging.
Although the effort of running on sand and wading through some water was challenging at times, it’s such a unique environment and splashing through shallower water was a great laugh!
After Green Island, I was able to “put my foot down” a little more. And came home at 14:09 in a time of 02:09:44