Wednesday 12 August 2009

We’ve Been to the Beach!

Seaton Sluice beach

Well it was a fine day and we don’t get too many of these when the tide is right for a beach visit.

It was my husband’s day off and he’s been talking about taking our grandchildren fishing on the rocks off the beach where he grew up. Until we were married he lived in a Northumberland coastal village called Seaton Sluice. It has a small very old harbour and an enormous beach with beautiful golden sands.

Harbour and Rocky Island

It’s only about a half hour drive but it was about 10 degrees cooler and much windier at the beach than it was at home.

Don't jump

Still they enjoyed it but it wasn’t long before we headed off for lunch. Humungous plates of fish and chips! What else?

After that we headed for the beach proper where Lauren wanted to build sandcastles. Well as a child who had built more sandcastles than these two have had hot dinners I gave them the benefit of my extensive sandcastle expertise and advised them that you can’t build a sandcastle with a moat on dry sand. They would need to build it on the wet sand nearer the sea. Well an hour later after lugging water from the sea up to the dry sand and finding it just drained away, the penny dropped and they gave up! Don’t children ever listen? No, because Nanna’s know nothing!

Let's paddle adjusted

Time for a paddle!

It was very sunny but with the wind, it wasn’t exactly hot. Funny how they don’t feel it, they thoroughly enjoyed themselves and I had to drag them out of the water.

Next it was burying in the sand time. Strange how children still do all the things we did when we went to the beach over fifty years ago. Maybe they were doing it a hundred years ago. They’re not really that different to us after all!

On the way back through the dunes we passed a remnant of the war. At the start of the war the beaches were closed off with barbed wire to repel any potential German invasion. Here’s a photo of the remnant of a pillbox. They were composed of concrete-slabs or filled bags, some held anti tank guns others accommodated soldiers with rifles. The pill boxes formed part of a line of defence along the coast.

Remains of war

That must have been awful for local families whose only summer leisure would have been going to the beach.

I lived in another coastal town and the beach was just down the road from our primary school. Despite dire warnings from my Mam about not going onto the beach after school, we often did. How sad that children during the war were robbed of this simple pleasure. They had very little else.

Well the forecast is good for tomorrow (that’s if the Met Office haven’t boobed again) we’re off to the beach where I used to roam after school. Happy days are here again!

Post 114

NOTE

I've been fiddling around with the layout of the blog because I've been having so many problems with the photographs. I've tried widening the space for the text to allow me to paste the code for the photos directly into the blog so that I don't need to use the Blogger photo insert. Well I'm not over keen on the results but I'll try to improve on it another time.

20 comments:

  1. Hi Winifred,

    I tried to comment on the problem that you are having with blogger but it wouldn't let me it says I'm sorry we cannot grant your request or words to that effect.

    I hope you get that fixed soon and I'm sorry that I can't help you.

    I really love your beach pictures, stunning! Take care.

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  2. Beautiful and refreshing photos of the beach! I wish I could dig my toes into that sand!

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  3. oooh I can just feel the sand between my toes, and smell that salty sea air....
    A lovely day out Winifred, I bet the grandchildren enjoyed running in the sea with their spades and buckets..
    Thanks for the day out!

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  4. Wow!!! I love what you have done on your blog Winifred. These photos are excellent and I love how large they are. I keep trying to get different templates, etc....no luck yet.
    That is sad that some of kids couldn't go to the beach. I haven't been to many beaches...but would love to. These photos really make you want to go.

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  5. "It’s only about a half hour drive but it was about 10 degrees cooler and much windier"

    Here, the coast is an hour away, but it nearly always windy and can easily be 20 degrees or more cooler in the summer. This is because a range of mountains blocks the cool air from reaching where I live.

    Do those tidal pools contain sea creatures?

    "That must have been awful for local families whose only summer leisure would have been going to the beach."

    But are you SURE they couldn't go to the beach during the war? I can see how it would have felt weird to swim with rifles and artillery at your back, but it's not like the Germans could cross the Channel too fast for beach goers to move.

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  6. What a wonderful day you and the children had.
    pATSY

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  7. I really enjoyed the photos of your beach day and wow, love how your photos are so nice and big...

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  8. Lovely place.... I always have this deep felt crush for lonely beaches... This looks so tranquil. So peaceful.. Nice place..
    My Travelogue

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  9. What wonderful photos. And so nice that you seemed to be the only people on the beach.

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  10. A lovely day out Winifred and isn't it lovely to see our grandchildren doing exactly what we used to do. Simple pleasures. A x

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  11. I vote "yes" for this layout. Wow, the pictures have been so enjoyable in this larger format. I want to do this too -- only my photos aren't nearly as great as yours! Our grandchildren would surely enjoy visiting you:)

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  12. Of the photos that I could view, all I can say is, WOW. What a lovely place. The remnants of war need to stay. It's always amazing to look upon history and wonder, what if?

    Thanks for the tour.

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  13. I love what you've done Winifred...the pictures are glorious...I almost felt i could step on the sand. A wonderful post! thanks so much for sharing it and the size of the pictures just showcase the beauty. I've only seen the ocean 2 times in my life...and envy you this beautiful experience.

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  14. - The sand is great when you're on the beach, trouble is it gets everywhere, in the car and when you get home.

    - The smell of the salt is great too.

    - To get the larger photos I used instructions from Carmon - Life At Stars Rest post on 14 July. She also gave a link to some good instructions on inserting photos without using the Blogger photo uploader. http://www.blueorchidblog.com/2007/10/how-to-have-large-photos-on-your-blog.html . I used some of these to change the Blog.

    - We don't have any mountains near us, the cool air is usually from Easterly winds from The North Sea.
    There's some sea life in the rock pools, a few limpets, small crabs, sea anemones.

    I'm positive they couldn't use the beaches, my Mam told me. They were covered with barbed wire to slow down any invaders. Would have been a painful trip getting through the wire or maybe even shot! Remember Steve McQueen in The Great Escape! Painful stuff that wire.
    It would have been easy to land on the beaches here, lots are deserted and miles from towns. Thank goodness it never happened.

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  15. Hey Winifred,
    Drop into my blog to collect your special gift... Congrats... :)
    My Travelogue

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  16. What a great post Winifred! I felt as if I were along for the trip! I sure wish we lived along the ocean... maybe I will be so lucky in my retirement... 8-)
    I'm sure your grandchildren will have fond memories of this day...
    Have a great weekend!

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  17. I found it interesting to read about the beach defenses. I was in a Japanese pillbox on top of mount surabachi on Iwo Jima. That was spooky.

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  18. Beautiful photos. The beach always conjures up memories. I like going in the off season when the tourists aren't around. The wired off areas were scary but intriguing. Lots of history around you.

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  19. Those are fantastic photos, Winifred. I would love to be by the sea in England right now. It is so ruddy hot here these days.

    Kat

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  20. I've just got so excited over this post..Seaton Sluice is my favourite place of all time!! we go often with the dogs as its only 15 minutes drive away!! The fish and chips are the best around and we love going there all year round.. We've eaten them from the box in blizzards and they were the best lol.. I have so many photo's of Seaton Sluice i bore people with them hehehe xx

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