Sea loch and stone stack

Cycling past a beach on Loch Linnhe, I had to stop for a closer look at the striking stones on the beach. And once I stopped, I had to build a stone tower...

I love to do this on a beach. Here's some I built earlier: by a river near Machynlleth, 'stepping stones' in Dorset, and soon-to-be-demolished-by-the-tide near Chichester.

Balancing on the beach

We all have that basic urge to throw stones into the sea when we're at the beach, don't we? I do, too, and I also like to pile stones on top of each other, or next to each other, or balance stones on pieces of wood, or wood on wood...

Here's a stone circle I made while staying in a yurt near Machynlleth, and pebble feet plus a quartz line meandering across different stones. And more recently, here's a little tower I made last weekend on the beach in West Sussex. There are a couple of shingle spits projecting out into the sea and on this one the tide was coming in from both sides. I made a five-stone tower and retreated to the 'mainland' to watch it be washed away.

On the way back to the motorhome, I found a length of wave-washed wood lying on the shingle, so I scooped a hollow with my heel, stood it upright and heaped stones around it, then placed a lichen-covered stone and an oyster shell on top of it.

Small steps

Some things we make last a lifetime; others are more transient, and in this case, as Paul Weller put it in Broken Stones: 'like pebbles on a beach/Kicked around, displaced by feet'.

On an autumn day in Dorset, I made some pebble feet, and then did an experiment in 'taking a line for a walk' as Paul Klee described drawing.

Stone love

I take after my dad in that I love to interfere with the natural positions of stones, piling them up, standing them on end, balancing them on top of each other, or other items.
I'd love to call it 'land art' but I think that might be a little grand for my efforts.
I'm a big fan of Andy Goldsworthy, and I like the idea that you're changing the landscape for someone else to discover.

Left: stone circle by the river near Machynlleth, Wales. We stayed in a yurt here and it was a magical trip: close to nature, mindblowing reiki and peace and quiet.

Stone circle of a different kind on the beach in Southwold, Suffolk. Mr MI! was fishing and I amused myself. (I like to go fishing but not that day.)

Stone and wood combined on the beach in Rhodes, Greece. From this angle, it resembled a woman looking out to sea