Brean Sands Slog 27

First ride of the New Year and it turned out to be a tough one!  Thought it might be a challenge to see if it was possible to cycle the length of Brean Sands from Brean Down to Burnham on Sea. It was, but on a mountain bike, on the sand, against the wind for 6.5 miles was a little tougher than had been anticipated.  Having said that, it was a challenge and happy to have done it. The STRAVA GPS app is playing up today and wont sync so no map available at the moment.  Done it now!

Brean Village

Doesn't look like this in the summer, it is normally wall to wall with cars and pedestrians. A fact of life in many sea side resorts around the country.

The Steps of Death

As my family call them!  Footpath access to Brean Down, a National Trust property.  Climbs about 300 feet and the observation point at the top of the down is at 318 feet. The chap climbing the steps asked me if I was going to carry the bike up but I did tell him that I knew of the bridle path that leads to the top. Not using that today, it is is very steep and it would be quite muddy in places. Leave that one for the summer.

Brean Sands

Stretching from Brean Down to Burnham on Sea these sands are about 7 miles long.  Thought there might be some sand yachting on here today but no sign of any. There were a lot of people about at the various entrances along its length and a fare share of dogs and horses.  As mentioned above, it was quite a slog along this beach.

Low Lighthouse

This is on the beach on the northern end of Burnham beach and when this came into view I knew there was not far to go.  This lighthouse replaced the old tower lighthouse and is used to warn shipping of the shifting sand and mud flats in this area.  It was built in 1837 by a Samuel Nelson and it is a grade 2 listed building.  It was decommissioned in 1969 but started up again in 1983 when the original tower was permanently discontinued when it was turned into a holiday let. Another 1/2 mile found me at the Bay View Cafe for tea and a Kit Kat. Most welcome.

The return journey was along the A38 and A370 with the wind behind me. Luxury!
The total mileage was just over 27.