You have to give our British surfers points for enthusiasm: they’re even out practising on the wash provided by the ferries in the English Channel, on England’s south coast.

These are pictures from Folkestone’s sandy beach at high tide, today. The sea was choppy and the sky black, and a punishing wind whipped across the narrow stretch of sea which is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.

If the game guys in wetsuits manage to get up and stand on their board they face maybe three glorious seconds of ride before they hit the beach.

The local sites like this one  boast waves of between 1.5 and 2.3 feet. But undeterred, a small group of hard-core surfers are still out there to experience seconds of hard-won elation.