A couple of miles south of Weston Super Mare at a point where the River Axe turns from a beautiful English river to a deep, tidal, muddy V shape, cut in to the spiny grass and wildflowers of the saltings, there is a marina called Uphill Marina. I’m not sure where it got it’s name because it’s right next to the River Axe and has its own slipway down to the grey polished shiny mud. You get no less uphill in all of England than next to the sea. At the entrance to the well kept marina with it’s own touring caravan park, small lake and well manicured grass, is a piece of common land. This land is in dispute between the few people who still own the wretched sailing boats there and the council. The council too afraid to remove any of the clearly abandoned boats for fear of legal action and compensation claims. The owners vociferous in their claim that the land is common land and they have a right to be there. The reality, most have already been abandoned, few will ever make it back out to the sea and in the meantime it is the place where boats go to die. Exposed to the blazing sun, howling wind and lashing rain.
