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7daysinaweek
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Me and mrs 7days are partial to a bit of open water swimming, having not swam in the sea since last summer which was the Burgh Island swim in Devon, we decided to have a swim at Formby which we do on occasions. April is what we refer to as our acclimitization month as the water be it the sea here, or our local quarries that we swim in are around a 'barmy' 7-8 degrees at this time of year.

On Saturday we parked up at the car park at 10.30am and made our way to the boardwalk where we usually get changed next to the lifeguard station. Lots of people enjoying themselves as they should, dogs, buckets, spades and all that. Wetsuits on and we left our bags under the boardwalk as is the usual and into the water. Bloody freezing!  We swam out around a 100 metres or so and headed left to what is known as the 'marker post', about half a mile away, swim around that then back which is around the mile mark all told, not too far.

On our return we got out onto the beach directly opposite the boardwalk, walked through the groups of people, got dried off and then left. Just as we arrived back at the car park, costguard and police turned up, lights flashing en masse! We wondered what could of happened.

A google search threw this up. (link below)

Mass evacuation of the beach and bomb disposal safely detonated the offending object. The article does not say what it was, some old ordinance possibly, or something more suspect??, who knows!

We walked past that child in the picture who had made the sandcastles and I pointed them out as being 'impreressive!'

Thankfully no one was injured in any way however unlikely.

Any roads, we were not 'blown to smithereens'. Next time we stop for a rest at sea we better check what we are 'clinging onto'. :unhappy:

https://www.itv.com/news/granada/2022-04-16/suspicious-object-forces-beach-evacuation

 

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45 minutes ago, mel b3 said:

I'm putting my money on a Russian mine .

7 or 8 degrees , is colder than a witches xxx🥶

Parts of your anatomy are drawn up inside you very quickly, if you catch my drift.

43 minutes ago, oowee said:

Wow that sounds like an exciting day out.

Certainly was different, everyone got home safe, that is all that matters. Cheers Owee.

23 minutes ago, amateur said:

You had better not swim out to this one off Sheerness.download.jpeg.jpg.4bd523a99e9c6001a00e24b64b4aefac.jpg

What is that?

Are you allowed to swim over it or would it not be safe??

23 minutes ago, Scully said:

Interesting day out! I’ve often wondered, where exactly is smithereens? 🙂

Lol!

Glad we never got to find out. 💥 :lol:

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45 minutes ago, 7daysinaweek said:

Parts of your anatomy are drawn up inside you very quickly, if you catch my drift.

Certainly was different, everyone got home safe, that is all that matters. Cheers Owee.

What is that?

Are you allowed to swim over it or would it not be safe??

Lol!

Glad we never got to find out. 💥 

😀👍

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1 hour ago, Scully said:

Interesting day out! I’ve often wondered, where exactly is smithereens? 🙂

I think it's everywhere?

2 hours ago, 7daysinaweek said:

Me and mrs 7days are partial to a bit of open water swimming, having not swam in the sea since last summer which was the Burgh Island swim in Devon, we decided to have a swim at Formby which we do on occasions. April is what we refer to as our acclimitization month as the water be it the sea here, or our local quarries that we swim in are around a 'barmy' 7-8 degrees at this time of year.

On Saturday we parked up at the car park at 10.30am and made our way to the boardwalk where we usually get changed next to the lifeguard station. Lots of people enjoying themselves as they should, dogs, buckets, spades and all that. Wetsuits on and we left our bags under the boardwalk as is the usual and into the water. Bloody freezing!  We swam out around a 100 metres or so and headed left to what is known as the 'marker post', about half a mile away, swim around that then back which is around the mile mark all told, not too far.

On our return we got out onto the beach directly opposite the boardwalk, walked through the groups of people, got dried off and then left. Just as we arrived back at the car park, costguard and police turned up, lights flashing en masse! We wondered what could of happened.

A google search threw this up. (link below)

Mass evacuation of the beach and bomb disposal safely detonated the offending object. The article does not say what it was, some old ordinance possibly, or something more suspect??, who knows!

We walked past that child in the picture who had made the sandcastles and I pointed them out as being 'impreressive!'

Thankfully no one was injured in any way however unlikely.

Any roads, we were not 'blown to smithereens'. Next time we stop for a rest at sea we better check what we are 'clinging onto'. 

https://www.itv.com/news/granada/2022-04-16/suspicious-object-forces-beach-evacuation

 

After the trouble there last year I was expecting trouble, a beach evacuation and controlled explosion is certainly different,  it was a lovely day for it though 😅

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1 hour ago, 7daysinaweek said:

What is that?

Are you allowed to swim over it or would it not be safe??

The SS Richard Montgomery was a US Liberty ship, stuffed full of munitions, which foundered off Sheerness, Kent during WW2.

Certainly, when I was a youngster on Sheppey, you could take a joy-ride around the wreck and it was said that people dived on it. Then it became known that the cargo was deteriorating and now nobody is allowed near it.

Should it go up, it would seriously spoil your day if you lived on Sheppey, and probably Chatham and Southend too!

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2 hours ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

SS Richard Montgomery and its load of munitions!

 Cheers TT

Blaster Bates rowing boat then! :lol: Reminded me of my thread on the bamboo triffid, could have done with some of them munitions to have blown the bloomin thing out.

21 minutes ago, amateur said:

The SS Richard Montgomery was a US Liberty ship, stuffed full of munitions, which foundered off Sheerness, Kent during WW2.

Certainly, when I was a youngster on Sheppey, you could take a joy-ride around the wreck and it was said that people dived on it. Then it became known that the cargo was deteriorating and now nobody is allowed near it.

Should it go up, it would seriously spoil your day if you lived on Sheppey, and probably Chatham and Southend too!

Thank you amateur, very interesting, we will give it a widddde birth.

56 minutes ago, Mice! said:

I think it's everywhere?

After the trouble there last year I was expecting trouble, a beach evacuation and controlled explosion is certainly different,  it was a lovely day for it though 😅

We  CERTAINLY DON'T want to be 'everywhere'.

24 minutes ago, marsh man said:

A lovely detailed report on what other people get up to in there free time , certainly something different from walking around a garden center in the morning and then looking around for pigeons in the afternoon , glad you came out of it still in one piece .   MM

Cheeres MM

Even though I do enjoy a day at the garden center and more so the allure of a shot at a pigeon, there is something 'wordly' different about being out in a big body of water on your own, a very unique experience indeed.

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  • 3 weeks later...

For those that may be interested, the masts of the ss Montgomery (mentioned above) are due to be removed (I think next month) due to fears of them parting company with the deck/hull and falling onto the wreck below and triggering the explosives. It was in the radio earlier today. And reported in the guardian December last year :-  https://amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/dec/30/navy-to-dismantle-sunken-warship-on-thames-holding-unstable-explosives

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On 19/04/2022 at 10:05, discobob said:

The training we received in the military was "if you ever step on a landmine, you need to jump in the air and spread yourself over a wide area" 😂

Stolen from `Blackadder goes forth` methinks:hmm:

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27 minutes ago, Old Boggy said:

Stolen from `Blackadder goes forth` methinks:hmm:

Could be - from deep in the recesses of my subconsciousness - although I was serving when Black Adder Goes Forth was being shown (1989).

I came out with that about 12 years ago at the new MOD Corsham site in Wiltshire, when walking across some grass with others (civvies) - when one of them chirped up that there could be landmines - to which I responded.... As above!!

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On 18/04/2022 at 18:40, TIGHTCHOKE said:

SS Richard Montgomery and its load of munitions!

1800 tons.........they are working on dropping (safely ) the masts as we speak....as they think if they fall on their own accord they might set the munitions off.....it is said that the resulting explosion would blow most of the windows out in london

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26 minutes ago, ditchman said:

1800 tons.........they are working on dropping (safely ) the masts as we speak....as they think if they fall on their own accord they might set the munitions off.....it is said that the resulting explosion would blow most of the windows out in london

And reshape the Isle of Sheppy, so not all bad :lol:

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On 18/04/2022 at 20:24, amateur said:

The SS Richard Montgomery was a US Liberty ship, stuffed full of munitions, which foundered off Sheerness, Kent during WW2.

Certainly, when I was a youngster on Sheppey, you could take a joy-ride around the wreck and it was said that people dived on it. Then it became known that the cargo was deteriorating and now nobody is allowed near it.

Should it go up, it would seriously spoil your day if you lived on Sheppey, and probably Chatham and Southend too!

I hope that the terms of sale back in WWII for the British Ministry of Supply were "Payment on Delivery" and not "FOB at Origin"!

Edited by enfieldspares
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