Friday 5 August 2016

What Happened to Holywell Bay?

Have you ever been to another place twice? It's not as good the second time, am I right?



As mentioned in the Sandboarding and Cars article, I mentioned that I went to Holywell Bay before the article was published (28th July 2016) and I would spoil a surprise but in the article, it said that I thought of a way of transportation up a dune which was a quad bike. I thought of this because I was climbing up the dune and it really did strain my legs which would have also made the experience more fun. I came home and I realised that Holywell Bay wasn't as good as what it used to be anymore, it's more of a surfing resort now instead of a Sandboarding complex, even though the dunes are plenty I was the only person on sand dunes (it could have been 2 or 3 people in total but what I saw, I was the only person), the dunes are not really for usage in Holywell Bay and are more of a landscape feature now.



Courtesy of: Nilfanion License: CC BY-SA 4.0 Modified: No


I'm not saying this to irritate the native population or to drive off tourism, Holywell Bay is a good place but the Sandboarding craze isn't as good as what it was before; is it due to lacking UK interest in Sandboarding? Who knows? However, it may be a factor as to why the UK or England doesn't have an association with Dune Riders International.

I felt my legs naturally memorising the route across the dunes, I explore new dunes for the first time that were already there for centuries and that's when I realised why Sandboarding isn't as popular anymore.



The dunes all over have a lack of maintenance, plants and sharp thistles can find their way into your feet if you walk over some loose sand; glass, litter, and rusting metal can be found here and it looks like it doesn't want to be cleaned up or maintained by a local council or beach administration organisation. I might have thought that Holywell Bay was once a booming location as The Sun once compared it to Bondi Beach in Australia, calling it one of the seven wonders of Britain! If that's the case then it makes me feel that Holywell Bay should have its own place in the next edition of Off the Map by Alastair Bonnett as nowadays its more of an abandoned sand dune desert-like region than a tourist spot.


Holywell Bay's rival, Bondi Beach in Australia. Courtesy of: Mike Switzerland License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Modified: No




I don't want to be bad towards Holywell Bay, surfing schools are popping up, there are a few pubs in the main village, and there's a theme park on top of a hill so there's still a lot to do and the town is not at all with the dunes in this article, as of now I've been to Holywell Bay for my 10th consecutive year and now I think this might be my last. Sorry, Holywell; your dunes need fixing.

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