MY PRIVATE BEACH

Let’s go back to spring 2021. Everything locked down, and a major dose of cabin fever.

Now, my apartment is surrounded by mountains and near a large river - it’s a great setting, and I love going for long walks around here. But after a while of doing this every day, I suddenly needed the sea. I don’t know why, I wasn’t born anywhere near it, but I just love being near the ocean. A bit strange when I can’t swim, but the sound of waves hitting the shore is just wonderful for me. Of course, I don’t like other people around, so the more remote and wild, the better.

One of my fondest travel memories is walking along a beach at night in October, well out of season, in St Jean de Luz in the French Basque country, the Atlantic pounding the shingle in a mildly alarming but dramatic fashion.

So back to 2021. I needed to get to the sea, but the catch was that I wanted to minimize any public transport needed to get there, for obvious reasons (and I don’t drive). A quick look at the map, and I noticed what looked like a promising area in Saka, a suburb of Hiroshima not too far from me. One stop on the Sanyo train line, then change to the Kure line and two more stops, only about twenty minutes in total. I could brave that for the prospect of some fresh sea air, couldn’t I?

So I got out at Saka station and set off for a little knob of land sticking out into the Inland Sea. Was it going to be just residential, or industrial? Would there be any kind of recreational seashore at all? Yes, there was! I found an absolutely tiny beach with some shell-encrusted sands and a rocky promontory. And no people! To sit down there and breath in the fresh air was really something special.

Since then I’ve been back quite a few times. If the tides are wrong, there’s actually only a few metres you can walk upon, but if like today you have a low tide, you can walk around the rocks to another slightly bigger adjacent beach. And there’s never anyone there either!

This little place of introvert refuge reminds me of the song ‘The Place I Love’ by The Jam, the lyrics of which go thusly:

The place I love is a million miles away
It's too far for the eye to see
Still it's me at least and you can't come there
No one is allowed at all

Only animals that love me
Will always only ever could-be
Still it's always at the back of my mind

I'm making a stand against the world
There's those who would hurt us if they heard
And it's always in the back of my mind

The place I love is nowhere near here
Not within a yard of those trendy do's
Where dogsbodies pick you up and graciously give you a lift
With cherished thoughts and bitterness

I'm making a stand against the world
There's those who would hurt us if they heard
And that's always in the back of my mind

So there it is - my secret beach that would probably seem like nothing to you - but you can shove your Bondi right up your Rimini, it’s perfect for me…