And there they are. Surreal. Magical. Mesmerising. One hundred figures dotted along the shore gazing out to sea, full of hope and expectation, withstanding the ebb and flow of the tide.
Each of these cast-iron statues weighs 650kg and is a cast of their creator, the artist, Antony Gormley.
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From Waterloo Marina, with its café and lake with swans, scramble over the dunes to get to this two-mile stretch of beach. Search for sea holly, cranesbill and evening primrose seeded by the wind in this ever-shifting landscape. The tide moves around Gormley’s figures, now corroded by seawater and colonised by barnacles.
Look far and wide across the sea to the Wirral and hills of North Wales. And watch the final golden embers of the sun slip into the sea before twilight beckons the stars.