A Record Breaking Year
This year was our most successful trip to date:
- Biggest Team (Between 6 and 13 People)
- Most Plastic Removed from Beach (1.9 tons / Approx 35m3)
- Approx 2kg removed for every £1 donated.
- RORO Skip Provided by Council (Thank You David)
- Help from Streetwise Services (Thanks Guys)
- Great Weather (Quite Hot Actually)
Day 1 – Arrival
Day 1 started for me at 5.30am in Devon. Myself an two kids piled in car and drove all day to arrive at Port William. After a cup of tea, and unhitching trailer full of camping gear at campsite, we headed to the beach.
First task was to use a brushcutter to cut a patch through bracken, tall grass and other vegetation for a distance of 380m. This took about 2 hours, working fairly briskly with a Cordless Brushcutter.
We cut this path so that volunteers would not get lots of ticks all over them, and also so we could see where we were putting our feet. This proved a good move as I got about 30 tick bite on my legs (idiotically wearing shorts) whilst doing this.
3 sets of batteries lasted just about long enough to cut the path and the three of us then retreated to our cottage for morrisons pizza.
Day 2 – Larger Team Arrive
Day 2 started at 7.00am. We had breakfast and lunch to make for ourselves, the team from Streetwise Services and Trustee Will coming over from Glasgow. After frantic buttering of sliced bread, and filling of tea and coffee earns we were ready to meet them near the beach for 9.30am, for pastries and coffee.
The team from streetwise were very welcome indeed and they brought a very keen and positive attitude with them, and we weighed in over a tons of beach plastic in the first day.
This is quite a good number, but bearing in mind that this plastic was dragged over 500m over cobbles and rough grass it was surprising to see so much material piling up near the trailer.
As this was the first time we had “hosted” a group of external volunteers we made sure to provide a good quantity of food, and hot drinks. A lot of cheese and pickle sandwiches were eaten, and we had drank 5 litres of coffee by lunch time!
One of the “finds” on day 2 was a drum of used engine oil, where the plastic drum had perished and it sprang a leak, as it was so brittle. Many other items on the beach were also highly brittle and split tin to many pieces when we attempted to lift them.
This illustrates why this beach cleaning is urgently required. If the plastic is left in place it will break down, and after that it is impossible to remove.
At around 4.30 it was noted that there were a few tired faces (not least my own) and so we headed back to camp to soak our bones in cold Tennants.
When we arrived back to camp there was a familiar face to greet us, as Kujo a Trustee had arrived, and brought an old friend of his
Dinner was vegetable curry & nann bread with a side of raita. Cadburys Mini Rolls for pudding. N.B. Making a big pot of curry is easier than making sandwiches for 15 people.
Day 3 – Some “Old” Faces
After bacon sandwiches for breakfast, the Streetwise Team took down their tents we headed back down to the beach for another morning’s beach cleaning.
The Team from streetwise put in a last big effort with Fraiser dragging a 40kg bag to the trailer, only to slightly exceeded by Thorpy, with a bag of 41kg (Sorry about that Fraiser 😉 ) This record did not last long however, and much to my disdain it was smashed on Day 4, by Cairo.
I forgot to mention to the guys from Streetwise that we had made them lunch and they left without it, so we all had to eat a lot of sandwiches that afternoon.
Each year we try and improve welfare standards a little and this year we had hot drinks and hand washing facilities on the beach.
As I brought my two kids along I also rented a holiday cottage (with my own money not the charities) so we could be self sufficient. However, as we had a reduce group of just 6 people that evening they all came around for dinner. The kitchen in the cottage was very useful for cooking (unsurprisingly!).
After dinner Kujo drove off to Stranraer to pick up Cairo and Kaly from the ferry port. Thank you for the driving you did Kujo it was much appreciated.
Day 4 – Last Day on Beach
I was pretty tired on the last day, and was keen to finish up reasonably early so we could go for a swim in the sea. We worked until about 3pm in the end.
It was at this point the most upsetting incident of the trip occur when cairo dragged a 54kg load of rope and crates back along the beach, beating my record of the previous day. I had to admit it was “a win for mother earth” through gritted teeth.
By end of the last day the majority of the plastic was being dragged a distance of at least 700m with some of the further crates being dragged back from 900m distant.
After we finished we went to the beach for a swim, and then headed to pub (which was fully booked!) and then went to chippy instead.
Some then went to the pub, but I fell asleep whilst talking with my son.
Day 5 – Pack Up & Drive Home
I think we took about 100kg of fishing crates back with us to devon. We strapped this in to the trailer and set off at about 8.30am. It took 11 hours to get home.
Day 7 – Unpacking & Tidy Up
After arriving home the trip is not finished! All the the gear needs to be packed away for next year, and the trailer is unloaded and fish crates sorted, for postal to their various destinations.
Next Year
So what will we do next year? I guess that there is approx 1km of heavily polluted beach left to clean between St Ninians and Cairndoon. However, in order to clean this we will need a lot of people (perhaps 30) as it is double the walk. Or some form of off road transport. A dumper truck might be a good option, or perhaps (as suggested by Kujo) a quad bike and trailer.
Another alternative plan is to shift our attention closer to home. We could perhaps use an inflatable boat of some sort to clear small isolated coves of fishing gear, and other plastic waste.