This is the second in the series of images of lost and abandoned footwear: shoes, boots, slippers, trainers and flip-flops found on the strandlines of Gower beaches. Some, like the wellington boots, have probably been lost overboard from pleasure or work boats; or from the back of the trailers and tractors that ferry cockle and mussel fishermen from shore to shore. Others might have been lost in the dark after late night beach parties; or washed away when the tide came in more quickly than expected while swimmers were in the water. I find it fascinating when shoes have obviously been in the sea a long time and have hydroids or barnacles attached. Other shoes I rediscover on different occasions and in different places; each time a little more worse for wear. Maybe one of these shoes belongs to you? Have a look and see.
If your lost shoe isn’t here, look in later posts on the same subject as I have many more examples in my collection still to show.
Revision of a post first published 8 November 2009
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Jessica's Nature Blog 
Yeah, the grey mule looks familiar, from 1978.
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I am going to Gower next week. I’ll see if I can find it for you, if you like? Sometimes, there’s even the pair a few hundred yards apart!
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How long did it take you to collect all these images, Jessica? I like the way you have arranged them in double columns.
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I took these photos over a few separate days on two particular beaches. I suppose I would expect to see at least a dozen shoes each time I walk along these shores. I have about fifty more pictures from this year but sometimes I find the same shoes on subsequent visits. I also find various items of clothing (like jackets, trousers, and underwear) and beach goods (such as buckets, spades, goggles, and flippers). I’ll photograph any kind of flotsam on the beach.
If I have lots of images to display for a posting, and I suspect they will have limited appeal for most viewers, then I try to group them to save space – either in a gallery with columns, or as a slideshow.
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Oh my Sole! What a collection. I’m amazed at the number of clothing items you find. I mostly find beach toys left behind by children 🙂
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It is rather strange isn’t it, that people seem to be so careless with their shoes and clothes on British beaches. Or could it possibly be that everything that gets lost from your side of the Atlantic gets washed over to our shores! Did you realise that there is clear water between the tip of the Gower Peninsula with its Rhossili beach and the eastern coastline of Canada, the USA and South America? The ‘fetch’ (as its called) for Rhossili is 4000 kilometres.
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