Like many of the above I go back to the sea to refresh myself.
As children we play in sand, the material that links the water and the soil. We remember it as soft, warm, friendly, malleable...welcoming.
What an adventure to dip into the waves, we can float, we are ...free.
Every summer I played on Portstewart Beach and climbed upwards into those high dunes. It was hard work with the soft sand giving way underfoot and the sharp marrem grass stinging your legs. Once up there it was magic, hidden dells and then views for miles and miles. The short grasses on the Big Course, the Bann, the Strand, the dangerous rocks with the red flag flying, the Barmouth and then Donegal far, far away. My Brother and I played a little on the Old Course, which starts and finishes hard by the sea.
Now when I golf I look downwards to the waves. When I swim I look upwards to the dunes. Both make me happy.
Few understand that swimming as a popular activity was a Victorian invention. Before then virtually no one had swum by choice since the Romans. Popularised by Scandinavians, Germans, Native Americans and Lord Byron the growth in its popularity as a leisure activity mirrors golf. They have much in common: solitary, meditative experiences.
Linksland, where the sea meets the land.