Low Tide, Misty Day, Lepe (Beaulieu River)

An atmospheric panorama seen from the road that runs along by Lepe Beach. There is a certain delight in the little scenes framed by the sections of the fence and then above it the wide space of the Solent. The gentle diagonal of the road and fence is counteracted by the other diagonal of the low-tide beach with its bait-diggers and further down, the criss-crossing breakwaters. For a few successive years in the 60s a raft was moored a few metres away from the shore. It was lovely to swim out to it and dive off it. Here at low water the two boys could wade to it.