puddleshark

Met up with C. and her terrier for a walk from Acton down to the sea, to sit for a while in the shelter of the old quarry at Seacombe, watch the waves wash in, and enjoy the warmth in the sunlight.

( Read more... )

A few days off work. I was originally planning to go back to the Somerset Levels, but a) the Somerset Levels are currently underwater, and b) my car was making a weird noise. So I took the train to Brighton instead. Brighton was busy. Of course it was busy, it is a city, you fool. And it is surprisingly hard to get a proper pot of tea there. There are coffee shops galore, and shops offering bubble tea & matcha & chai... but I failed to find any old-fashioned tea rooms. Luckily I came across the café upstairs in Waterstones, had a pot of tea surrounded by books, and was saved.

Back home now. Brighton was grand. Grand & crumbling. I think I enjoyed it, despite the lack of tea, and the getting lost (a lot).

( Regency grandeur )

After seven glorious sunny days to start the new year, January has a lot of catching up to do in the Rain & Gloom department. Judging by today, it seems to be making good progress on the backlog. I went to Swanage, which is by the seaside and therefore Cosmopolitan, with three different Italian cafés, and treated myself to coffee and a croissant and the pleasure of watching people pass by in the rain.

Took my little Pentax camera, wrapped in a plastic bag, and snatched some shots, one-handed, while trying to wrestle an umbrella in the wind and rain.

( Horizons may be wonky )

A grey Boxing Day, with a bitter north-east wind blowing on the high ground. Not a day to be walking the ramparts of an Iron Age hillfort, so I did the other traditional Boxing Day walk, the more sheltered one, across the Army Ranges to the sea at Worbarrow.

( Read more... )

So much rain this week. In the past few days, the flood plains here have undergone their usual winter transformation, from green fields with cattle grazing in them, to wide grey lakes with swans swimming on them. The lanes have turned into shallow streams. It's still too windy to go walking in the woods, so I drove down to the coast again, to follow the sheltered track down the valley to the old quarries at Winspit.

( Grey sea, grey sky )

Swanage Pier.

No shortage of visitors to Swanage on a glorious Sunday in November. The seafront was almost as busy as it is in summer, with people strolling in the sunshine. A few brave souls swimming in the sea, or using the new sauna before swimming. Brrrr. But at this time of year the beach belongs to the dogs. Happy dogs hurling themselves into the sea, looning around on the sand, greeting each other with wagging tails. ( A slightly more adventurous walk than I intended )

Durdle Door on a very blustery morning.

Well, the Met Office weren't lying. It is now hammering down with rain. But earlier, I headed down to the coast, armed with my little wet weather camera, & dodged the showers... It was extremely windy, and rather hard to take photos while simultaneously holding onto my hat as the wind tried to snatch it. But the sea was beautiful, the translucent blue-green-grey of a Dutch Old Master seascape.

( Read more... )

A grey still day, quite pleasant for walking once you were off the high ground, and out of the north wind.

( To the sea, and back, with unexpected bonus tea & cake )