Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside.....

I am still at Great Bedwyn but while Elaine has been away I havn't been sitting here twiddling my thumbs.  I finished off the painting that I wanted to get done, then set about giving the interior a good clean as on Saturday brother, Russ, his wife,Tracy, their daughter, Kimberley and her boyfriend, Chris were going to pay me a visit for a couple of days.

They arrived early in the arvo, so we went for a walk and had a drink at the local, before going out to Dinner on Saturday night at Newbury.

Kim and Chris slept on the boat, whilst Russ and Tracy checked themselves into a local hotel.

Sunday morning we were up at sparrows as we were all going to the seaside ... super :)

Off we went to ...


The weather started off a bit dodgy - it had been pouring with rain in the night and there were still a few showers around as we drove south.  I fed Sammie before we left, which was a mistake as he sometimes gets carsick if he hasn't been in one for a while, which he hasn't.  He puked after about 30 mins, but I had a towel underneath him which caught the lot...it was still fresh!!  I made myself a mental note not to rub myself down with that towel on the beach.

We got a parking spot right next to the beach, which was virtually deserted.

Then the sun came out and the crowds started to arrive.

It was like a meeting of the United Nations on the beach.

We were sat at Durley Chine which wasn't as packed, plus it was the dog friendly bit which made Sammie very happy ...

He started to dig a tunnel back to Oz....

But soon gave up ...

We went for a walk down to the pier and back ...

By now it was getting hot....

Brother Russ went for a swim but the water wasn't warm enough for me to venture in!

It was the most fantastic day, we went for a very late lunch at a pub, then went back to the beach.

I took off for a walk with Sammie and ended up at........

Me and brother Russ having a beer on the beach ...

Strewth, there were a lot of Crocs on the beach!

Whilst we were on the beach we could see some white cliffs in the distance so decided that rather than go straight back to the boat we would go hunting white cliffs!  We took the shortcut across Poole Harbour entrance on the Sandbanks chain ferry.  The tide was fair ripping out, they were mighty strong chains keeping the ferry on track.

I have been to Bournemouth before when I was a young lad, chasing the foreign crumpet that used to board there whilst they were learning English, but I have never been across the ferry to Swanage.  What a lovely part of the world, this is the sort of place we are looking forward to exploring in the motorhome part of the great plan, it was stunning.  Unfortunately we overshot the white cliffs but ended up at another lovely spot, Durlston Country Park.

We walked along a part of the cliff path, there were a few yachts returning from their day of sailing back to Poole Harbour.

The lighthouse looked stunning with the sun setting, it was still lovely and warm.  Are we really in the UK?

 

We returned back to the boat via Corfe Castle, another stunning looking place, but it was getting late so we pushed on.  It was a magic sunset ...

On the way back to the boat, we passed the Great Dorset Steam Fair.  I checked it out on Google today. 200,000 visitors and 20,000 camping, it looked spectacular as we passed it, it was a complete mini town.

Check it out here, so that is another one for next year's diary. It goes on for 5 days!

There is just so much to do and see in this fantastic country, where do you start ... on a canal boat I suppose!

So to today...well its been bloody hot, as I type this drivel at 18,00 its still 26 degs! The pub is calling.

I took Sammie for a walk up to the woods earlier, but it was too hot so we returned to the boat where I did the mundane housework type things.

Pics of the earlier walk ...

The woods that we reached before the midday sun drove us back ...