Imagine you’re walking along a beach, talking to your friend, enjoying the sunshine. Time goes by and it’s time to head back. But as you approach the headland you had walked around previously, you realise that’s not possible anymore: the tide has come in and there is no path around it now. You’re trapped in a bay with the tide continuing to submerge the beach.
The scary, and sometimes life-threatening, experience of being cut off by the tide is not as rare as you might think. Our survey found that millions of people – 15% of the UK public – have been cut off by the tide (or nearly so) at least once.
Often there is a simple enough solution, such as climbing up a hill or getting your feet wet. But sometimes there is no easy way out, and the danger increases quickly as the water level rises fast.
