Cockle picking at Spurn Point. Anyone done it?

DockWorker67

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Took the grandkids cockle picking at Spurn last weekend and it was brilliant. Low tide, warm enough to roll your sleeves up, and we filled two buckets in about an hour. The kids absolutely loved it. Getting them away from their tablets for a few hours felt like a proper achievement.
If you've never done it before it's dead simple. Wait for a low spring tide, take a bucket and a rake if you've got one though a stick works fine, and just dig around in the sandy bits where the water's retreated. You'll see little air holes in the sand and that's where they're hiding.
Boiled them up that evening with some vinegar and white pepper. The grandkids weren't keen on eating them which was fine because more for me. Fresh cockles from the Humber with a bit of bread and butter is one of the great Hull experiences that people are forgetting about.
We used to do this every summer when I was a lad. My dad would take us down on the bus and we'd come back absolutely covered in sand and mud with carrier bags full of cockles. Different times.
 
My grandad used to take me and I've got memories of standing in the mud at Spurn in wellies about three sizes too big just digging away with a little garden fork. The cockles we brought home that evening were the best I've ever tasted. There's something about catching your own food that makes it taste ten times better. I should take my kids before they get too old and too cool to do anything with their dad. Thanks for the reminder.
 
We tried this last year after someone mentioned it on Facebook and the kids absolutely loved it. The youngest was more interested in the crabs than the cockles but that's fine. Spurn itself is an amazing place to visit regardless of the cockles. The wildlife is incredible, the landscape is unlike anywhere else, and it's so quiet. Just make sure you check when the tide is coming in because the road out floods and I've heard of people getting stranded. Common sense stuff but worth mentioning.
 
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