UK – England
Sand Origin
Bull’s Lodge Quarry, Boreham, near Chelmsford, in mid-Essex
Sometimes, as in sports, people divide the UK into England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Here at OUAW, all are joined with sand from each as a part.
Random Sand Fact
In England, there is a royal title for the person who leads people across quicksand.
In a bay in north-west England, the sea retreats far out at low tide, leaving vast stretches of wet sand. In places, the sand is so full of water that it turns liquid when someone steps on it, and the surface gives way.
Since the 1500s, the Crown has appointed a guide to lead people across the sands. Today it is a local fisherman. The day before each crossing, he walks out and marks the route with laurel branches, which keep their leaves and stay visible even after high tide.
Anyone who does get stuck rarely sinks deeper than the waist, because the human body floats in quicksand. The danger is the tide coming back in. The advice is to lean back, spread your weight and slowly wiggle your legs free.
