Chopjock - perhaps, like that family, you don't understand tides........6 hours from low tide to high tide and then another 6 hours back to low tide again so from the point they got cut off, it is at least a 6 hour wait to be able to walk out again - by which time it could be dark.
So many people come to the coast who haven't got a clue about tides - it really isn't rocket science and the cycle happens twice a day.
As Same Again says, the tidal range in Devon is ridiculously high - the Bristol Channel is second only to the Bay of Fundy in tidal range I believe .
Just round the corner at Saunton where it is a shallow sloping beach, the tide line varies by several hundred metres horizontally - grockles come down to the beach to go surfing, having not checked the tides, and find them selves with a long walk to get wet
An easy job for the St Athan crew - some of whom used to be at Chivenor and so are very familiar with the area
