COVER STORY Julia Mear met Roy Beal in Seaton, Devon
© Roy Beal Photograph by Julia Mear
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‘I’m a sea kayaker, hiker and lover of the outdoors. I grew up on the River Dart in Totnes playing on boats and in kayaks with my younger brother. My parents always owned boats so it was inevitable that I would grow sea legs from a very early age. I even have a pirate ancestor, known as Captain Trapp, from the Shaldon area, so I suppose one could say the sea is in our blood, even though I neglected this until I moved near the sea. I’ve always loved the water but somehow, I managed to spend 30 years of my life without a kayak or a boat, instead spending my spare time either playing the DJ at various rock venues or racing Superkarts; winning a couple of championships at an amateur level. I’d been gradually making my way across Devon; living in Torbay, Newton Abbot and Exeter at various times, often due to my job as a car and van diagnostic technician, and eventually ending up in Seaton in 2011. Moving to a seaside town
Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine February 2021 3
