Giant Clams

Well, I've just spent the weekend in west wales, on the beaches at Manorbier, Fresh Water West, and Saundersfoot. It's got to be the best way to relax.
On Saturday, we went to Saundersfoot beach at low tide to look for Razor clams. Me, and my buddy Chris had heard that you can get them by pouring salt on them. weird. Anyway, the beach was full of clam hunters, with tubs of salt, and bottles of very strong saline. Amazingly, you just need to look for a little hole in the sand, that is either bubbling up with water, or squirting water and ram a load of salt into it. If you are lucky, and not too heavy footed, the razor clam will rise up out of its hole just like the titanic coming back up. Then, you grab the shell firmly, and pull it very slowly out of the sand. Great - fresh razor clam. We got about 8 of these before the tide came back in (very quickly) .

There was a guy on the beach digging up lug worm for bait with his two sons (thanks mate), and he showed us how to get the biggest clams I have ever seen (not razors). Look for one of the little holes that squirt water, and instead of using salt, just dig down as fast as possible, about 18 inches, and grab the shell that should be there. They really fight, so you better hold on. Dig around it with your other hand, and hopefully pull it out. These clams look like giant flat mussels (6 inches long, 4 inches wide). We only got one of these, cause the guy who got it for us was covered in crud up to his shoulder (the sand turns into grey mud about 6 inches down at low tide).

Anyway, we got half a bucket of cockles too, and later that night we cooked all of the shellfish up with garlic and white wine and ate it with Pasta. Lovely stuff, and would have cost an arm and a leg in any restaurant.
All in all, a nice weekend. If you haven't been to west Wales, you should go - the beaches are gorgeous - great for surfing, fishing, or just lounging about. Unfortunately, the water comes in off the Atlantic, so you better be tough if you intend to swim.

btw - The tides around south wales have the second highest tidal range in the world, and as a result, the tide can come in really fast.