Recovery Time

 

We love to comb the beach for treasures: fossils, shells, ray or shark eggs.

 Three weeks ago the weather forecast predicted 100% rain

but it turned out to be ideal circumstances for beach combing.

Strong but not too strong wind and (almost) no rain.

Due to strong winds the previous days a lot of junk washed up on the shore.

Rope, nets, shoes, wood and an awful lot of plastic.

 

 Suddenly something caught my eye....

At first sight it looked like a piece of rubber, care tyre or a piece of wood... 

but it appeared to be an upper jaw and part of a skull of some kind.....

So exciting! Fossil find? Doggerland? A great find, we were chuffed!

A couple of days later an expert said it's recent and from a cow.

We still have our doubts so we'll go for a second opinion ☺︎

The next morning... 

a beautiful sunrise... and the beach almost to myself... 

In the afternoon lots of activity at 'La baie de la slack' near Ambleteuse.

Get into the 'Groeve'

"Get into the Groeve" is what de kenderman said to me ☺︎

The Dutch word 'Groeve' almost sounds like groove but means 'quarry'.

Yesterday we visited the 'Groeve van Romont' in Eben-Emael.

As beginners we got a guided tour for a start

but we managed to find some broken sea urchins.

Cleaving a big chunk of marl can give you a beautiful imprint 

The original shell in the bucket of an expert, not ours.

Our 'guide' helping us to saw a small piece from a big chunk to take home...

Blue skies alternated with dark skies and some rain...

The kenders in action...

What a beautiful day, meeting geologists, amateurs and citizen scientists...

We brought some fragile and damaged fossil sea urchins home.

Ideal for practicing cleaning skills...