Under the boardwalk...

Poldhu had a "south of France" feel to it as the sun began to set on Saturday. Thanks to our trusty team of Volunteers and Poldhu Beach Cafe we (almost) built a boardwalk in a day.

Every year the main access route onto Poldhu beach fills up with 10ft or more of sand as the dunes either side try to stabilise. This makes access onto the beach over the steep mound rather difficult for all who use it. We normally hire a digger in pre-season to scrape the mountain of sand back onto the beach to expose the path beneath, a timely and costly exercise. So this year we have taken a different, long term approach. We have decided to stop fighting nature and allow the dunes to stabilise whilst providing easier access for pushchairs and wheelchair users over the dune via a boardwalk onto the beach and cafe.

We chose this particular design of boardwalk as it is not anchored to the ground in any way and literally sits on top of the sand like a big roll out carpet. This means that in the coming years as the dune stabilises we will be able to move the boardwalk with it. The design has a low impact on the landscape and will soon blend in with the surroundings as the marram grass grows up to the edges. The overall cost was kept to a minimum, using a local supplier of timber, reusing redundent winch cable and cutting up alcathene pipe as spacers.

The sun shone on our backs as we lay the boardwalk on saturday and it felt like a summers day, we even needed an ice cream by the end of it! We went back on Monday to complete the final section and were pleased to see pushchairs using it with ease. Feel free to comment if you have any questions or feedback about the boardwalk.

Elle