Yachting journalist and PBO contributor, Rupert Holmes, sent us these unusual images and his surreal account of a low-tide encounter in mid-Solent over the weekend…

Morris dancing on Bramble Bank – see photo gallery here!

‘I went for a stroll on the Bramble on Saturday evening, as you do when the tide’s down.

‘Naturally, being mid-summer there were quite a few others there, but what we hadn’t expected was for a hovercraft to appear and deposit 80 morris dancers on the sands.

‘They did their stuff for around 40 minutes before being whisked back to Ryde as the bank rapidly disappeared under the incoming tide.

‘It made the already slightly surreal experience of taking an evening walk mid-Solent really quite extraordinary.

Apparently it’s not the first time the bank has been invaded by the Men of Wight dancers, but they only do it when a low spring tide coincides with their week-long summer tour of the island, so it’s a rare event.

They were joined by seven other teams, all participating in the 320th Morris Ring. The annual cricket match had taken place that morning, so there was no chance of the dancers trampling the pitch.