Seaside and Strawberries

 We've been away in Wales for a few days.  When we got home the first strawberries of the season had ripened after spending lots of weeks looking hard and green.  

The first sweet pea flowers had opened up as well.

I've popped a few photos of where we've been below and I'll be back with more on some of them in a later post.

Colwyn Bay

Llandudno

Bodnant Gardens

Sheep grazing near the cafe at the top of Horseshoe Pass

Inside the Home Front Museum, Llandudno

Swan and cygnets at the Rhuddlan nature reserve.

Welsh Dragon on a 20mph road sign near the school in Acrefair.  

All for now.

Seaside Memories

Childhood memories seem to fall into two main categories, those that are painful or hard to re-visit and those that leave you filled with a warm nostalgia.

I was never sure if my memories of our holidays when I was a child were seen through rose tinted glasses, although my little NHS regulation glasses worn from the age of seven onwards after a severe bout of measles never had tinted lenses and memories of having to wear them at school are still quite painful, but I think, on the whole memories of seaside holidays have a rosy glow.

Some of my most vivid memories are of holidays in Teignmouth in Devon with Mum and Dad and sometimes accompanied by aunts, uncles and cousins.  We used stay in a bed and breakfast owned by a lovely couple called Mr and Mrs Lofty, he gloried in the first names of Milton Zacharia. Isn't it strange what details you do actually remember? They or their family owned a small shed like beach hut on the riverside of the estuary so my Teignmouth memories are more of this stretch of beach than the bigger beach and pier of the sea front.  I went in search of the beach huts and I have a feeling that the little one may be the one.  We used it as a base all week, we children playing in the sand and running in and out of the sea.  Mum would make tea and sandwiches for lunch in the back of the shed which always smelt of slightly damp, old wood and salty seaweed, sandy wet bathing costumes and damp towels would hang drying  inside.

I remember once my Dad getting me up very early and taking me mackerel fishing. We  brought our catch  back to Mr Lofty to be cooked for breakfast.  I never liked them - too many bones for my fastidious tastes - but I loved going fishing well not the fishing as such but being on the sea.  I don't remember where the bed and breakfast was but I do remember the loud gong which was sounded to summon us to breakfast and evening meal.  I also remember the walk each morning down to our little hut clutching our buckets and spades, sun hats and fishing nets.

There was an ice-cream seller next door or next door but one to our hut so we always had a lovely creamy ice cream in the afternoon but my most vivid memory is of the ferry.  It left from just nearby and we would lock up our hut, catch the ferry and go over to Shaldon.  I remembered them being black and white and they still are. As Galant mentioned in her comment on my last but two post - the basic design hasn't changed much since Elizabethan times!  We loved the ride and then the walk up  by the Ness hotel and past a little thatched cottage with a pond outside it.

That was still there, too!   Then excitement rising we would head for the Smuggler's tunnel for the walk down to the Ness beach. We children used to shout and listen for the echoes as we walked.  It was cool and damp in the tunnel but all too soon you could see the sun again and feel the rising heat as we neared the end. Then it was out into the bright sunshine, dashing down to the sand to stake a place and set up camp for the afternoon buckets and spades at the ready.

 

I did notice that the tunnel had changed inside as  the original exit had been shut off and another tunnel built alongside with steps inside - I don't remember steps in the original tunnel but maybe there were.  Your mind can play tricks sometimes especially after  50 or so years.

One thing I did feel was that everything seemed smaller and more compact than I remember!  This beach seemed endless to me as did the one on the Teignmouth side of the estuary.  The ferry point seemed a longer distance from the old hut and yet when I saw it recently it was only a few steps away.

It was lovely to revisit these places and see that at least some of my memories were correct and that my mind wasn't playing tricks. 

The photo above is of me and my cousin John,  who was just two weeks older than me and sadly lost to throat cancer at the young age of 54, about to jump off  the wooden stand onto the sand.  It was taken not far from the old beach hut.  We look happy and excited, everyday of the holiday laying down another cherished memory.  I'm so glad I went back to take a peek at a life gone by but never forgotten.

A Happy Diversion

After watching the weather forecast closely on Friday night we decided to drive up towards Chester yesterday;  if the weather wasn't so good we would go into the city, if it was okay we would head towards the Welsh coast.  As we drove along our usual route the road had been closed with no visible diversion signs so we turned towards  Wrexham and eventually found our way back onto the main road to North Wales - the decision was made for us!

We decided to go into Llandudno after seeing signs for a Celtic Winter Fair.  We parked on the sea front and went straight down to walk along the pebbly beach heading towards the pier, passing many gulls, but not many people on the way.

I love the buildings in Llandudno; they have a French influence and the streets are wide like Parisian boulevards.

As we walked any residual mist began to lift and the sun peered through the clouds.  Although the temperature was quite low there was no wind so it didn't feel cold at all.

Having walked along the beach and the promenade we decided to walk to the end of the pier and back before going into the town to find the fair.

There were more people at this end of the town and some of the gift shops were open in the little kiosks on the pier.

It was colder at the far end of the pier as the sun disappeared behind the clouds for a short while -the mist still hanging over the little orme and the great orme.

We wandered into the town - so this is where everyone was!  The fair looked very interesting but we only saw a few outside stalls as the marquees were full to bursting with people queuing to go in and it looked as though once you got inside you would find it difficult to move around or even to look at anything properly.    Reluctantly  we decided to move on.

We drove out towards Conwy and called in at the RSPB nature reserve there.  After a lovely late but warming lunch of soup and a bread roll, we had a walk around the reserve.

We didn't cover all of the area but enjoyed the bird hides overlooking the lagoon. 

Snowdon was visible in the distance surrounded by mist and cloud.

There was an interesting children's  wildlife trail ending with Tiny Town a perfect habitat for slugs, bugs and insects.

It was time to drive home before darkness descended, remembering to avoid the A41 and take the A51 to Nantwich instead.  It was a long, tiring day but  so lovely to see the sea again!

Off to see the Sea!

I'm off to the coast for a few days later this week. See you all when I get back!

Where did the Time Go?

I've just realised it is over a week since I last did a post on here and I've no idea where the time has gone, except that it has probably gone by in a haze of going to work and getting home too tired to achieve much of anything except washing and ironing and a little cooking and cleaning.

I've been enjoying bits and pieces on TV and for once I sat and watched television on a Saturday night which is quite unusual for me. I've become engrossed by the wonderful John Adams on Channel 4. This is a brilliant series so far and I'm really enjoying it. This was followed by a new series on BBC 2, The Victorian Farm, made by the creators of the wonderful Tales from the Green Valley which I thoroughly enjoyed. This one looks as if it will be just as good - and I find that I'm interested in this series and relating it to my family history as it is fascinating to learn how people would have lived and worked through those times. Thirdly and again with family history in mind, having found out in the last couple of years that I have ancestors who moved from Fife and West Lothian into England in the early 19th century, is The History of Scotland again on BBC 2. This is fast moving and presented in a slightly frenetic way by Neil Oliver but it is completely captivating.

I've also been reading; in particular the last two Sunday Philosophy Club novels by Alexander McCall Smith, I loved the first three and ordered the two new ones from the library and have just enjoyed the first one of these 'The Careful Use of Compliments' - I love the gentle thoughfulness of these books and the wonderful descriptions of Edinburgh and in the one just read, of the scottish islands of Islay and Jura.

On Sunday we had a lovely visit from the son of a friend of old and his fiancee who stayed for lunch and told us of their wedding plans.

Last but not least I've been climbing in my family tree again and searching the newly released 1911 Census on line. I've found some interesting things which I'll no doubt report on later on Family Matters but for now I'm still assessing the information I've found.

For some reason I have been thinking a lot about the sea and the sand and walking on the beach and wondering if we will be able to get there this year - I hope we can.

The Beach at Nefyn, Lleyn Peninsula, North Wales, August 2006

So, all in all, it has been a quiet week of pottering with this and that, no walks or visits to speak of but hopefully, weather permitting, we will be able to rectify that this coming weekend.