beach costal bush crafting

[roger352]

I was wondering if anyone as transferred their bush craft skills to bush crafting on the coastline beach etc. Carving driftwood, collecting seaweeds, harvesting shell fish, making salt, sea fishing etc?.

[Chubbs]

Never done any of them but have thought about making my own salt. Only live about 6 miles from the north coast here in Cornwall so seawater won't be a problem, Will be collecting seaweed for the garden once there has been a good storm later on in the year.

[Humakt]

Coastal 'crafting is one of my favourite destinations!
The coast or heathland are my places of choice for bushcraft. I like the woods, but they are a poor third for me in preferred location. Yup, shellfish, shrimping, some foraging, and then a small fire from driftwood to cook it all up and do a bit of carving or just listen to the endless rhythms of the ocean.
The coast is always my first, and preferred, choice!

[Silkhi]

I spent a lot of my childhood with my grandparents looking for stranded fish in rock pools and gathering/cooking periwinkles. (I always refused to eat them...yuck! Hand me the cheese and pickles!) Historically & when times were hard my family used to make a meagre living out of that and digging up lugworms to sell for bait (vile looking things...I couldn't throw them in the bucket fast enough!)

I did pick up a fair bit of knowledge but should have really learned a lot more from my grandparents - they foraged for much of their food. I guess a lot of peoples' did.

I can still smell those bilberry pies now... Hmm will have to see if I am still as good at picking those as I was as a kid. Something to do later on in the year - I am still not so keen on the winkles or lugworms though!

[Humakt]

I suspect that my draw to the seaside is a bit like your own - we spent forever there when younger.
It was my father that led us there. He was a fisherman and we'd be off early to collect lugworms for bait, and get the occasional clam and razorfish if the tide was low enough, and samphire and sea kale and sea buckthorn. Then we'd spend the rest of the day playing along the pebble beaches whilst he fished.
Fishing is not something I have taken up though, for no other reason than I don't like the taste of fish! Wish I did though because I am totally sold on the idea of going down the coast, catching some fish and cooking and eating there and then. But no, I just don't like fish. Every now and then I try it, to see if my tastes have changed but, alas, they haven't. If anything it's got worse - once I could just about be talked into tuna, but I can't stand that any more. So I've given up, regretfully, on ever liking fish. Although, oddly, I do like shellfish and such (and no! They are NOT the same taste!).
Maybe that's it. I feel infinitely more confident and comfortable foraging along the coast. There's also the romance of the ocean seas as well.

[FishyFolk]

I am on an island, and I like to shore fish. My wife some times takes some blue mussels home if the water is safe for that (they can be deadly if there is poison algae in the sea ate the time).
Else there is not much we collect from the sea or shore, except for some wood for a camp fire now and then. I've tried my luck at crabbing, as my wife loves them. But not much luck.
I like the forest and lakes more. :-)

[xWillo]

I love the Coast, A Few years back I was an avid surfer and would go down south for a few weeks at a time surfing. Whilst my father was out in the kayak fishing.
Can't beat fresh sea bass and mackerel cooked the same day it was caught!
I would love to have chance to do something by the coast but its so far to travel for the weekend, and holidays off work are always in short supply :(

[OakAshandThorn]

I would, except Long Island Sound is HORRID. It's a paradise for the rich snobs who own 5 yachts, not much else for the rest of us. The waters are polluted from lead, there are just too many speed boaters (some of whom are quite rude and will intentionally swerve into you at speed to cause waves which inevitably rock your vessel precariously), and the license to fish salt waters costs a lot more than freshwater. Inland waters offer a lot more here.

[delboy]

Going way back to the 1980s when I lived in Plymouth, there was a small wooded V shaped valley just along the coast path from Jennycliff. From the path it looks like maybe 100 feet to the shore, but it`s deceptive as it takes about 20 minutes to walk down the valley to the edge of the cliff. I spent several weekends there, built two small huts and a bridge over a stream (which gives potable water (once boiled obviously), and collected driftwood for fire. As I`m a vege I didn`t try fishing or hunting, but did sample some seaweed and foraged in the woods. The place is so secluded it felt like I was the last person on earth, the only giveaway of population was spotting the boats going to and fro in Plymouth sound.

[BJ]

Going way back to the 1980s when I lived in Plymouth, there was a small wooded V shaped valley just along the coast path from Jennycliff. From the path it looks like maybe 100 feet to the shore, but it`s deceptive as it takes about 20 minutes to walk down the valley to the edge of the cliff. I spent several weekends there, built two small huts and a bridge over a stream (which gives potable water (once boiled obviously), and collected driftwood for fire. As I`m a vege I didn`t try fishing or hunting, but did sample some seaweed and foraged in the woods. The place is so secluded it felt like I was the last person on earth, the only giveaway of population was spotting the boats going to and fro in Plymouth sound.

That sounds idyllic, I do love coastal bushcrafting. T^

[delboy]

That sounds idyllic, I do love coastal bushcrafting. T^

It did seem idyllic at the time but I was a lot younger and a lot more adventurous. I haven`t been back there for maybe 20 years but I doubt it`s changed much. I`ve attached a link to the location and an aerial view, it`s difficult to imagine but the valley is very heavily wooded. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Plymouth/@50.3458101,-4.1219941,351m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x486c8d530e95ea3d:0x3b282 cb5cef58593!6m1!1e1

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[BJ]

It did seem idyllic at the time but I was a lot younger and a lot more adventurous. I haven`t been back there for maybe 20 years but I doubt it`s changed much. I`ve attached a link to the location and an aerial view, it`s difficult to imagine but the valley is very heavily wooded. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Plymouth/@50.3458101,-4.1219941,351m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x486c8d530e95ea3d:0x3b282 cb5cef58593!6m1!1e1

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Lovely spot, I didn't realise how close to Plymouth it was. I learnt to sail in the Tamar