The early start was needed if we were to catch the Bore. Despite living fairly close to the Severn I've actually not seen it before. Today though was supposed to be a good one so...
The river Severn has the third highest tidal range in
the world, only the Bay of Fundy in North America and Ungava Bay ( Hudson Straits) are bigger.
The tidal range on the Severn can be as much as 15m
(49ft), this combined to the 'funnel' shaped estuary causes the incoming
tide to create great a bore. The front of the oncoming surge of water
creates the wave.
As you can see we were not the only ones awaiting its arrival. You can just about see it starting to come around the corner
The first indication it was close was the noise and the smell of salt in the air. The surfers were all ready and waiting. And then the bore arrived. Here the surfers are just picking up the wave.
Passing by - the surfers give an idea of the height of the bore this morning. It was expected to be a 4* one so worth catching.
The Bore hit the banks with a bang,
This gives a good impression of the impact on the banks as it went passed.
Compare the shot of the river one the Bore had passed with the first one. The sand banks have disappeared and the river is a seething and writhing mass of water. Very surreal in that the water in the middle with the tidal impetus was rushing inland whilst the water at the edges was still making its way down to the sea. The result was patches of pure calm, almost like velvet intercepted by undulating waves of water.
Pure Magic
