By the Sea?

[Scythe13]

The more I look into this, the more appealing it is to me.

How many people have considered a BOL close to the sea?

If you have considered it, what points did you think of for and against being there?

[Devonian]

Yep, its the best place to be as far as I am concerned, but not a sandy beach, more your rocky coastal areas!

Endless supply of food and firewood and usually plenty of freshwater streams finding their way into the sea

[MoleTrapper]

Bit of a double edged sword, when we were looking for a place our most important credentials were it had to have fertile ground and enough of it, must be as far from town as possible. We wanted to be near enough to the sea because of the food potential but not too close because of rising sea levels and tsunami threat etc, obviously also nearer the sea more people.
Theory is as we are all aware after an "event" survivors will gravitate towards the sea, apparently history has proved this.
In terry nations book survivors they did this with the notion that heading across to the continent and traveling down to italy or Greece would give a better chance of a life as opposed to just surviving brought about by a kinder climate.
Must admit that the idea was quite an appealing one, but on giving it a lot more thought came to the conclusion that being a refugee in your own country was bad enough, but where you are an outsider, hmm, not good as a first choice.
Living close enough to the sea though it would give you that option if things looked like getting any bleaker.
So after wittering on "sorry" yes we decided it was for the better, we are four miles, so close enough but not too close, hopefully!

[NorthernRaider]

I think that unless people are rich or very lucky the absolute last thing they should be buying is property with addresses like SEA VIEW, LAKESIDE, WATERFRONT, RIVERSIDE, TOWPATH, MILL LANE, BY THE SEA, ON WATER, and absolutely NEVER on reclaimed land like the Somerset flats or the Broads primarily cos most of the reclaimed relies on pumps or well maintained drainage systems to stay dry.

Living in REASONABLE proximity to navigable waterways is another issue all together because after TSHTF and the roads become dangerous on unpassable we will resort to travelling on water for commerce.

[bigpaul]

was never a consideration for me, coastal means more people and more people means competing for the resources, I prefer to go further inland and get away from any competition.

[Devonian]

I think it depends on which parts of the coast you are thinking off. If you are talking about somewhere around an existing town or village, then yes lots of people/competition, but if you actually look at the coastline from say the North Somerset/North Devon Coast from Minehead to Woolacombe, its not exactly full of towns and villages and most of it is pretty remote and isolated even now, let alone after TSHTF. The same can be said heading from North Devon down into North Cornwall and most other parts of the UK coastline...

[NorthernRaider]

The north coast of Cornwall, Devon and Somerset are also like the neighbouring south coast of Wales also vulnerable to large tidal waves and tsunamis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Cha...oods,_1607

[bigpaul]

Devonian your quite right, but all communities started near or on the coast and spread from there, although the coast especially in North Devon is not exactly overpopulated there are pockets of population some larger than others and POST SHTF people will radiate out along the coastline looking for food and resources. my own plan would be to AVOID these places and these people and to go more inland where I would not have to share the spoils which I have already logged and mapped for myself.

[Devonian]

It may be splitting hairs a little, but communities have not generally started on the coast, I think without exception virtually every large town/city has started just inland on the banks of a river examples being Bideford, Barnstaple, Appledore, Instow, Exeter, Plymouth, Bristol, Padstow, Bude, Lynmouth, Liverpool, London, Cardiff, Swansea, Newport, Newcastle, Glasgow etc etc...

There are exceptions of course one being where my parents originated from - that being Clovelly, but generally most 'coastal' towns are small.

So the coastline itself, is actually remarkably unpopulated and isolated, there are also few roads to the coast and access is generally achieved via footpaths and farm roads only, making them in my opinion a pretty safe bet.......

[Highlander]

When we looked for our place we did want to be fairly close to the sea, but not on its shores, we chose a place about four miles in

For a prepper living directly on the shore restricts your movements,.. if after an event people do start to move upon you with ill intent, then you will find you have your back to the [sea] wall,...if your inland route is blocked by the bad guys, where do you go, you cant go seaward, unless you have a boat, a destination to go to and the skill to get there, and going up or down the coast is predictable.

These last few days have shown us that living on many of our coasts is not a happy place to be, storms have always made lives in coastal properties more dangerous that many of those inland,..... the wind will often effect the crops you grow, the salt spray will do them no good either, very often the soil is very shallow or too sandy,... coast lines can shift

I would always prefer to be inland a bit