180 Days in Salone: Lumley Beach has changed

Google Photo's "Stylised" version of one of my pictures.

Lumley beach is a 3 mile long white sandy beach on the western edge of Freetown. It extends from Lumley and connects to Aberdeen via a bridge at the other end, and cushions Cockle Bay from the wild Atlantic Ocean. Looks amazing until you get closer up and see the rubbish littered everywhere.

Both the beach side and the seafront across the road have changed a lot since I first came in September 2008.

My favourite view from our drinking spot, Beach Apple, in 2009

Previously there were only a few small buildings (with the odd exception) that mostly housed restaurants across the road from the beach. When I first arrived there were lots of wooden or thatch huts that served as bars on the beach side, but in October 2008 (Beach Bars Demolished) the ministry of tourism ordered them all to be demolished and that no permanent structures were allowed on the beach itself. Though I experienced them for only a short time, I missed those lovely bars where your toes were still in the sand. After a short time the restaurants on the other side of the road started to build flat stages on the beach where they’d put chairs, tables and umbrellas. By the time I left in 2012 the structures were already looking a lot more permanent again!

I had heard a similar demolishing had happened in 2015, so I knew the beach side was clear, but now there’s a path running the whole length which allows pedestrians an option from sand walking or risking life and limb on the road.

But the most dramatic change is the number of monstrosities, mostly under construction, and some seemingly private residences, that now dominate Beach Road. Can't help but be nostalgic for how it was before...