Jacqueline Pooley, Pennant 5

An unexpected pocket of remoteness!

I have selected this mile as it feels a very remote place in an urban area. It is between Pakefield and Kessingland, designated as an area of outstanding beauty and a site of scientific interest. In the distance you can see the skyline of Lowestoft with its wind turbine, yet this place feels a million miles away from it!

This is a very beautiful part of the coast, it feels like you are in a vast desert, hardly able to glimpse the sea. The wind blows gently around with skylarks singing overhead and the distant call of the seagulls. Endless dunes with grasses gently swaying, a peacock calls in the distance, I could be in another county!

Figures are walking through the grass with the gentle waves singing in the background. There are strange alien plants amongst the sand dunes with their rich red tentacles reaching out and thorny trees dot the landscape, dried and windswept. The steep cliffs tower up with brambles, steps reaching up to a holiday park and old pillboxes spilling over the edge. You can find so many jewels on this beach, a piece of sea glass, lacy dried sea holly and textured cuttlefish, a delicate grey with the most beautiful patterns. The textures on this beach are a feast for the eyes! We saw a baby seal along the shoreline basking in the sun waiting for his mum to return and Terns swooping over into their ringed off nesting site.

I have seen this coastline change dramatically in the 45 years I have been here, the erosion of cliffs and an ever expanding beach. I would hope this place never changes, hopeful that the wildlife that inhabits it continues to thrive, is cherished and protected by the generations to come, a vast desolate beauty to be treasured!