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Saunton Sands

Beaches of DevonSurfing locations in England
Saunton Sands
Saunton Sands

Saunton Sands is a beach near the English village of Saunton on the North Devon coast near Braunton, popular for longboard surfing. Beyond its southern end, Crow Point, England is the mouth of the River Taw estuary. It is part of the Taw-Torridge estuary Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is at the centre of the UNESCO-designated North Devon's Biosphere Reserve, where Braunton Burrows lies at the heart. Saunton Sands Hotel overlooks the beach at the northern end. The beach is cordoned off a few times a year and the beach used as an airstrip for military transport planes, usually Lockheed C-130 Hercules of the Royal Air Force, to practise STOL beach landings and take offs. Flying kites is prohibited, accordingly, on part of the beach. Saunton Sands is popular with surfers because the beach is long, an unusually exposed westerly, and provides space for large groups. The beach has no life guards and is known to have dangerous riptides. Swimming here is dangerous and has resulted in many coast guard call outs. On 3 August 1990, a temperature of 35.4 °C (95.7 °F) was recorded at Saunton Sands, which is the highest temperature recorded in the Devon and Cornwall region.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Saunton Sands (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Saunton Sands
Saunton Road, North Devon Braunton

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Wikipedia: Saunton SandsContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 51.1 ° E -4.2258333333333 °
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Address

Saunton Road
EX33 1LQ North Devon, Braunton
England, United Kingdom
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Saunton Sands
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Baggy Point
Baggy Point

Baggy Point is a headland in north Devon, England. It separates Croyde Bay and Morte Bay which includes the beaches of Woolacombe and Putsborough. There is evidence of human occupation from the Mesolithic era. It was used during World War II by American forces training for the Normandy Landings. The land has been owned by the National Trust since 1939 when it was donated Constance and Florence Hyde. Baggy Point forms part of the North Devon Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and the Saunton To Baggy Point Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The SSSI designation is for both geological and botanical interest. The geological interest is in the Upper Devonian Sandstones. The fauna in the rocks is poor but contains bivalves, possibly of brackish to freshwater affinities, and plant remains. The botanical designation is for maritime heathland, grassland and lichens. Lichens which are common in this SSI but unusual elsewhere include Pannaria microphylla, Pannaria nebulosa, Squamarina crassa and the rare Lecania ralfsii. The birds which can be seen at Baggy Point include guillemots, razorbills, Dartford warblers, stonechats and cormorants. Seals are often seen swimming around the point and the grazing land is used by Hebridean sheep and Ruby Red cattle which have been introduced to keep down the brambles, gorse and bracken. The National Trust have also laid out a variety of walking and cycling trails. The sandstone rocks are popular with climbers. The climbing routes range in difficulty. Some cannot be accessed at high tide.