Sunday 22 July 2012

Fun in the sun and the beach

Sun shining, weekend, diesel in the car, we decided to head for the South Coast.




As Milford on Sea is a dog friendly place it is popular for dog walkers, and all their needs are catered for.

When you go to the West car parks you have a few choices where you walk your dog.
  • Back to the centre, where most families go
  • Along the beach heading West
  • Along the cliff top also heading West
Blue has done all three, but today we voted for the walk along the shoreline heading West'

Fortunately for us the bright sunshine was left behind in Reading, the clouds were bubbling up quite nicely. Blue has medium length fur, and does not really enjoy full sun in the middle of the day.

The tide was in so the main of our walk would be along the stony beach, it was not long before we left behind the bathers and sun seekers.

For as far as could be seen ahead we were on our own. It was safe enough to allow Blue to go off lead.

Out come his favourite tennis ball, which I had neglected to take on his morning walk, play time.

Blue did not play too long with his ball, merely carried and dropped it, not that interested.

Along the beach we found various bits of driftwood, Blue would be interested until they were thrown into the sea, then was disinterested.

The tide had ebbed enough to reveal a bed of sand, but Blue was having none of it, would not even dip a claw. Time for drastic action, off came my socks and shoes, trouser legs rolled up to the knees in I went, assuming Blue would follow, not a chance, he stood looking at me as if I was a deranged fool.

But with a treat as a reward, Blue braved the icy waters of the sea, and come in to join me.

Now it is not Hawaii and you could not say "surfs up" but when those massive waves came rolling in my normally faithful companion abandoned me all at sea.  Once the tide had ebbed he would return until such time as it flowed in again. Mind you walking on that stony beach with bare feet was hard and painful, so while I put my shoes and socks back on Blue did a bit of digging.

Fully attired we walked further along to a point which would lead up to the cliff top, we had a problem. This part of the coast suffers from landslides, and our expected exit point was nowhere near to be found.

A sea angler noticed the concern look on our faces, and he confirmed this was the location we would normally ascend, but over recent months there had been a significant slide of clay and soil. He indicated that a path still remained, once you had traversed across the recent slippage.

Earlier in the walk Blue had stepped in some of this soft clay, straight up to his knees, so we knew to be careful. Although he weighs in at 45 kilo, Blue is still better equipped than us to find a safe passage. Our hero delivered us safely across and up to the cliff top, a glance at the watch confirmed we had now been walking one hour and fifty minutes, leaving just ten to return to the car before our Pay and display ticket expired.

So we set off along the cliff top heading East, if we were going to be fined for over running in the car park there was nothing we could do, especially as Sue recently underwent major corrective surgery on her foot, so restricting her abilities to "trot on" as they say.

We actually arrived only 10 minutes over, as it is far easier to walk along the track than on a gravel beach.

We celebrated our return to the car with a 99 ice cream, while Blue layed under the car resting, We did buy another parking ticket to cover the time we went over and for us to sit and enjoy the wonderful walk we had just completed.

Time to head off home.

Enjoy the clip of some moments captured and put together as a movie for You Tube

and

Hello to the paraglider who waved to us as he sailed along the cliff tops.



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