Foreshore fossils

I moved to the seaside at the beginning of October, having

spent my whole life living inland - mostly in Buckinghamshire and West Yorkshire. It had always been my dream to live by the sea, possibly stemming from the days of my childhood when we used to visit my grandmother who lived in Southend. (Yes, not technically the sea but near enough!)

But it was in recent years that my desire for a coastal life grew as I discovered the magical hobby of fossil hunting. I was inspired initially by reading about Mary Anning, and then visiting Lyme Regis in 2011, with no clue as to what I was looking for. I think at the time all I knew about fossils was ammonites - but some youngsters on the beach introduced me to crinoids and I was overjoyed to find a few.

Living, working and child-rearing in West Yorkshire meant I rarely had time to myself to go off and explore. One of my dreams was to have a little campervan - and in 2017 I bought a Subaru Sambar, a replica VW but with a 600cc engine. As soon as I could I was off to the East Coast of Yorkshire to camp and hunt for fossils.

My Subaru Sambar, called Dave. That's another story.

One trip took me to Marske, up in the north of North Yorkshire near the Cleveland border. It usually took around two hours to get there from my home in West Yorkshire but in my mini van it added another hour as I couldn't go above 50mph. It was here that I found my first proper ammonite hidden in rock and was able to crack it open a few days later.