A Day at the Beach (Inactivity)

I’ve been inactive on here for a very long time. Over a year.
I’ve been busy with life and university and, honestly, I haven’t really had the energy to write.

Now I’ve finished university, and I’m trying to sort my anxiety out a bit more, I’m hoping I can get back to writing more. I still travel a lot, I just haven’t taken any photos or written about it. I miss it.

So, I’m diving straight back in with this post about a recent trip to Filey on an unusually warm and sunny Easter Bank Holiday!

I went with my boyfriend where we met up with his family for a day on the beach and some fish and chips.

Filey is a seaside town on the East Coast, North of Hull. It’s lovely in the sun. I mean, it’s probably lovely whenever, but something about the sun makes a seaside town light up – and bring in large crowds.
We met up with his family and went rock pooling, where we found some crabs, a couple of fish and a shrimp. Oh, and plenty of seagulls. Big, big seagulls. Seriously, I’m sure they get bigger every year. I love rock pooling, it’s something I’ve done for as long as I can remember with my grandparents and parents. I’m glad I got the chance to do it with Ash (my boyfriend) and his family – especially as his younger sisters and 5 and 12.

My favourite part of the day though – which may sound bad as it was not really with company – was the view. I love nothing more than seeing water; the sea, rivers, lakes, streams. I even get excited when I see a puddle. Myself and Ash sat on the bench for a while before going for a walk along the cliff. The water was blue and sparkling in the sun, the little waves were crashing against the rocks, the sky was blue and there wasn’t really a cloud in the sky.

 

 

We spent most of the day on the beach, in much hotter weather than I expected – resulting in sunburn, apparently I never learn – which was lovely as the water was cool enough to feel nice. I paddle in any weather, but I can’t imagine anything better than paddling in the sunshine on a hot day. We eventually left to get some fish and chips and enjoy an ice-cream. Which, I definitely enjoyed. Ice-cream is literally my favourite food. I wish I could say vegetables are my favourite food, but lets be real, nothing beats ice-cream. I now feel as though I’ve said ice-cream way too many times. Ice-cream. Ice-cream. Ice-cream…… Sorry.

After our food we went back to the beach to set up a towel and paddle and enjoy the sun. Unfortunately, we managed to pick probably the wettest bit of sand, resulting in very wet bums, but after paddling I don’t think I noticed as I always end up getting way too excited and paddling much deeper than I should.

Filey is definitely a location I recommend when visiting a seaside on the east coast. There’s plenty of places to eat and drink. The beach is lovely and there’s places to rock pool as well as dryer sands on the other side of the bay where lots of people swim.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spain? Or Wales?

One of the trips we did while in Wales, was a boat trip to Caldey Island.

Caldey Island is a small island, which is known as one of the holy islands of Britain due to it’s vast and long history. It is a very small island, homing only about 40 residents, not including the Cistercian monks that live in the monastery.

The trip is a gorgeous one – we luckily had a beautiful day, also very very hot! The sea was beautiful, and watching the scenery go by, and then the scenery of Caldey Island was so relaxing and nice. Docking in, the sea is so clear, the sand looks so beautiful along the trees and I honestly just really wished I’d brought my swimsuit so I could get in the water it just looked so inviting. I have to say, there’s also no better feeling, than the cool sea breeze hitting you as you smell the salt air and feel the slight bump as the boat goes over the waves. Something so calming about it.

Coming into the main bit of the island was quite a shock actually. I’d not actually looked at what Caldey Island was, I just wanted to do a boat trip and see an island. It was a good surprise though, as I suddenly felt as though I were in Spain!

A big field was in front of a large monastery where the Cistercian monks live. Trees surrounded the monastery, and the brick (white and red) really made it feel as though we were abroad, I loved it.

Although the island is small, there’s quite a lot to see, and we definitely used pretty much all of the day there. We grabbed a cuppa when we got there, of course, and then started the walk. We walked to see the old church, and then up to the lighthouse where we walked along the clifftop to view the sea. We carried along the cliff edge back towards the middle of the island, where we viewed anther church and part of the monastery that is open to the public – 99% of it is not as the monks still live and work there.
It was interesting learning about the monks – specially since I’d done a middle ages course at university and head previously learnt about the monks and how they live.
There are also some very cute ponies in the fields on the walks which I may have fed some grass from the field they were in, very cute — I did wash my hands straight after.

 

I’d love to go back to the island, there’s something about it that I just loved.

Second Love For Palm Trees.

August 2017, I traveled to Tenby, South Wales with my Nanna, Grandad and sister.

I’d previously holidayed in Devon and discovered that I loved palm trees – I had the pleasant surprise to find Tenby looked more like Greece. Palm trees along the town, a gorgeous beach with beautifully clear sea. An amazingly colourful harbour to walk around. It was amazing.

When we arrived, we decided to go for a walk into the town. It was a beautiful walk. I sent a picture to my boyfriend, who immediately said it looked as though I was abroad.

I loved it, it was a hot day, the trees looked amazing against the blue sky and sea; I really felt as though I was abroad instead of South Wales!! The last time I was in Wales it rained for the entire 3 days, so this was definitely a pleasant change.

 

The town centre is beautiful. There’s so many different colours everywhere, each building different, and it is also very historical.

The harbour fills in, but when it empties people seem to flock down there to get on the sand. But my favourite beach was at the other side of the harour.
There’s a little cave that you can swim through when the tide is in a little – which I did, and the water was certainly much colder in the cave – but still worth it!!

I can’t explain how beautiful the beach is. I’ve always loved Portuairk in Scotland, it’s the

 

place I’ve always holidayed. But I really loved seeing something new in Wales. We had a gorgeous day, the sun was out, the water felt warm with the sun beaming down on it, the sand was nice and water looked so clear.

The rock behind me is actually part of the cave, but the tide is out so swimming through then would be impossible.

 

 

One of the things available to do in Tenby, is visit the Tudor Merchant House. As known if reading enough of this blog, is that I’m a giant history nerd – and a history university student – so I couldn’t pass up this opportunity. It is not expensive to get in, and only a certain amount of people are allowed in at a time (although you can take as long as you like to look around) so it is not too busy or dangerous (it is quite a small house).

There’s a couple of floors to view. The bottom floor with the kitchen and huge fire. The second floor, where there’s a table with food, and other tables with Tudor objects on. The staff who worked there knew their history, and explained everything in the room in great detail!

I loved walking around with the slanted floors as it just felt really historical!

 

There’s loads to do in Tenby, too much for one post, so I’ll do more about the other days we had there. But it’s such a beautiful place, with so many friendly locals – all with very nice Welsh accents!

Beautiful place.

Snorkeling in Budleigh Salterton

I recently had a weeks holiday in Devon. In that small time frame, we managed to cram quite a few trips in.
On one of the days that we actually got warm weather, we decided to have a day at the beach.
We spent most of the day in Budleigh Salterton, and the rest in Sidmouth.

 

Budleigh Salterton is a beach that actually has no sand, it is just stones – which is not comfortable to walk on! The sea is met by the river, and it’s so nice and clear to swim in!

We spent the first part of the morning walking around the beach and sitting in the sun ofr a while, and as the day got warmer we slipped into our wetsuits – more like sqeezed into them – and headed out into the sea!

 

I can’t say there was that much tos see while snorkeling around here, but I did manage to collect some really nice shells from the bottom of the ocean floor to take home with me! I also saw a fish, bigger than I’ve ever seen while swimming before which made the swim worth it. Unfortunately, only two pairs of flippers were packed, ones that fit my dad, and ones that fit me and my sister, and since I’m the stronger swimmer she had the flippers; this meant that after two hours my legs were tired and I got out! We swam around the sea though, getting quite shallow and swimming along the little fish – the bigger one I saw was further out and much deeper – and we also had a little swim along the ravine where the river and sea met.

I absolutely love swimming, I love the smell of wetsuits and the feel of floating along the water. Swimming gives me quite bad earache so it is not something I do as often as I’d like, but while on holiday I always just say why not, I probably won’t get the chance there again for a long time!

When I’ve holidayed in Scotland, I’ve gotten out of the water absolutely freezing, with hands so numb I can hardly feel them and jumped straight into a boiling hot shower to warm myself up before getting into jumpers layers of clothing. While in Devon, the water was almost pleasant, it was cold, but not too cold. I got out and didn’t feel the need to wrap myself in 10000 towels, I got dried and back into my dress and sunbathed – my hair dried in about an hour! It was so nice to get out and be able to just feel the warmth of the sun – which, stupidly, I managed to burn myself again. I, apparently, will never learn to put on sun cream.

Walking around here made me feel as though I were abroad. The temperature was about 30°c, the sea was blue and clear and the sun was shining down. There were palm trees, and other plants that you don’t often sea up where I live. I was walking around in a sundress and sunhat and for once, I didn’t care what I looked like, I was going to enjoy the summer!

A New Found Love of Palm Trees

Living in the north of England, I can’t say I’ve ever really seen a palm tree in person. We don’t have the climate for it, it would look out of place to be honest.
So when I was down in Devon, I saw palm trees dotted around the towns, I saw them in people’s gardens, and by the sea! I actually loved it.

We spent a day in Cockington and Torquay, and I just loved seeing the palm trees.

It’s weird, I’d never really given palm trees a thought, I knew it was something I’d see in another country, somewhere warm like LA, so I knew that it was unlikely I’d actually see them.

Palm Trees in Torquay – which is known as part of the English Riviera – really made me feel like I was abroad. The sea was a gorgeous blue and clear, the palm trees were swaying in the sea breeze, and it just made me feel nice and relaxed for a couple hours walking around. I’ve wanted to visit Torquay for a while now, to be able to say I’ve been to part of the English Riviera. I’m glad I now can.

Paddling My Cares Away

I love the beach, and I love the sea.
I’m lucky enough to live near the beach, I actually live within an hours drive of about 5/6 different beaches.
And I love it.

There’s something about feeling the sea splashing over my feet and legs that I love. It’s like I can just relax a little. Standing onthe shoreline, looking out to where the sky and see meet, feeling the cold water around my ankles, listening to the sea and the birds; it just instantly makes me smile.

I went to Scarborough over the weekend, and it was such a lovely hot day. I wish I’d brought my wetsuit to swim, but I had to settle for paddling instead.
The beach itself was so full, that we went to the end of the bay and paddled where the tide was in against the boat ramps.
I’ve never seen the sea so clear in Scarborough, it looked beautiful – I even saw a crab at the bottom it was so clear.
It felt so nice to have the sun on my back, the cool sea splashing against my legs, just watching the sun glisten against the water.
It just felt so lovely, to feel the see on my feet as I feel so at home and relaxed by the sea.

Flamborough With Friends

I’ve come to realise, while studying on my history degree at univeristy, what the student experience is about. Yes, it is a lot of stress – a lot – and a lot of hard work. But it’s also about meeting new people. I’ve met some amazing friends here, ones that I hope to stay friends with when I finish univeristy.

To celebrate finishing first year, I met with two of these friends and we had a weekend at the beach.
Me and Millie stayed at Katie’s house, where her parents did us a BBQ, and we spent the days looking around markets, along the seafront and on the beach.

On the Saturday, we had a go on a speedboat – which felt amazing in the sun! I love speedboats and the feeling of the wind blowng through my hair. We then went for ice-cream – I never, ever turn down ice-cream.

 

On the Sunday afternoon, we went down to Flamborough beach. It’s a cove type beach, surrounded by cliffs with lots of little caves to walk around in. The beach is quite small, but I think that makes it nicer, and the sea is quite clear and really nice to swim in – which we said we would definitely do next time we’re all down there.
It was really nice to just roll up our clothes and paddle in the water to cool down, and sit on the sand under the cliffs and just chat and relax and have fun.
The view from the top of the cliffs is so lovely – so is the view from the bottom on the beach looking out towards the sea with the white cliffs surrounding it!
I feel like I haven’t done this with friends in such a long time and it was so nice to spend a day at the beach with friends.

 

 

 

 

Riptides and Wipeouts

This blog post is more about the sea than Whitby itself!

So, on Wednesday we were on Whitby beach, it was a really nice warm day but it was really windy. The waves in the sea looked amazing and we all wanted to go swimming. I had a really bad cold with earache and a chesty cough so I was sat glumly on the beach while my sister, Grandad and cousin were all in wetsuits and had just hired a surfboard to try out.
It took me about 10 minutes before I said stuff it and I ran to get my wetsuit and dive in too! I cannot resist the sea!

Turns out. I cannot surf to save my life. At first I was just on the body board riding in the waves, which were actually huge and really strong so I spent most of my time being knocked over by them all! My sister was also struggling to stay up as she’s really light so everything was knocking her over. After a while, I got a turn on the surf board. Mistake right there!
I was having trouble staying on it lying down because the waves were just knocking me off. I rode one in which was really fun (not standing because there was no way I fancied breaking my neck in the middle of my holiday). My Grandad saw I was struggling to get back out to sea though because the board was so heavy and the waves were so strong I was constantly being dragged back to shore.

I’m just going to add here, that the tide was going out ridiculously fast which gave us a very strong undercurrent which started to drag us out before the waves would knock us to shore and the whole time I was in the water I was being dragged to and from by the currents and waves.The lifeguards were also on the beach, so we went and swam inbetween the flags just as you’re supposed to!
Please excuse the weird mark on this picutre, I’ve somehow got a scratch on my camera lense 😥

But Grandad helped push me out to sea a bit more when I saw some really big waves heading right for my face. My internal thoughts were a lot of swear words but I took the first two pretty well managing to go over them on the board. But then the third wave hit me like a rock and it was so big and so strong I was knocked straight off the surfboard – a complete wipeout. I went underwater pretty deep and in a bit of a panic I swam to the top just as another wave hit me – I swollowed enough water to nearly vomit from choking. Not fun. It really scared me and I immediately went to shallower water and said I was not using the surfboard anymore and I wanted my body board back. The surfboard was too big and too heavy and I couldn’t control it. I even had trouble taking the ankle strap off and my cousin had to do it because I kept getting knocked over by the waves! I stayed out a little longer in the sea. I noticed at one point that the current had started dragging us too far from the lifeguard flags and one of the lifeguards was waist deep in the sea shouting at us to move back in! My sister went in pretty soon after this because the waves were just knocking her over so often it was starting to scare her too.

After a while though I was noticing that I was actually getting pretty tired – one good thing I will say about myself is that I am a strong confident swimmer – but even this was getting too much. The two currents in the sea were really strong and the waves were way bigger than me and I really wasn’t actually very well so it was probably pretty stupid of me going in anyway.
So I waved to my Grandad and told him I was going back to shore to get dried and warm. This is when I realised just how far out to sea we actually were and, again, I internally swore. I started to swim back when the wave ripped one of my beach shoes off .. brand new beach shoes. Gutted. I carried on and soon realised I was not getting very far. The waves were just pushing me underwater too often for me to move anywhere because the undercurrent was dragging me out. It was at this point that I started to full blown panic. All I could think was ‘**** I am going to drown’. I could see the lifeguards on the beach and honestly it crossed my mind to just wave my arms for help because I really didn’t think I was getting out of it on my own. But then I realised just how embarrassed I would actually be. I would feel so stupid that determination came to me and I managed to finally get to shallow water and was able to walk to shore. I was absolutely knackered and my legs were shaking as I stepped on the sand while a lifeguard watched as I choked on all the water I had swallowed. I nodded that I was ok and went back to the tent on the beach to get changed.

For years, I have watched Bondi Rescue and wondered how on earth people get into so much trouble in the sea and how they can get stuck out there. But on Wednesday, I realised just how easy it is to actually get caught in a rip and get stuck out there! Water is strong, a lot stronger than we can be. I was out in the sea for an hour and half before I started to head back, and I’d been battling the huge heavy waves so I was pretty tired. When you’re tired like that and the water is so strong, it is so easy to get stuck!
I’ve always had major respect for lifeguards but Wednesday made me realise just how good they are – yeah I didn’t need them, but I came pretty close and if they weren’t there and I couldn’t get back I could very easily have drown.

My Grandad was speaking to one of the lifeguards later on that day and he explained to my Grandad about the rips and the tides that day. He’d also told him we’d picked a hell of a day to attempt surfing as the waves were so strong!

Lesson of the day kids. Don’t go out too far. Don’t attempt surfing when the current and waves are too strong. And listen to the lifeguards when they say swim between the flags!!

*Another lesson. Don’t go swimming when you have a chesty cough and a cold – Because I actually had a chest infection which became worse and turned into Pneumonia! Just stay and watch if you’re sick!*

**This is my Grandad on the board after I’d already left the water. I didn’t stay on it long enough for any pictures!**
**This also doesn’t do the waves justice. They were much bigger than this photo makes them look**

The Day I Wore A Dress

I actually wore a dress today!! I am on holiday, it is a hot summer day and I thought stuff it. I bought a dress for my holiday and I am going to wear it!

We spent the day in Scarborough, it was really windy but the sun was so warm that the wind didn’t even bother you and it kept you just nice and cool on the seafront; there were practically no clouds in the sky!
I love Scarborough, we go lots all year round and there’s quite a lot to do to be honest.

We’d planned on doing the long boat ride, but it was too windy so we ended up on the little pirate boat but that was a nice half hour little ride that gave us a really nice sea breeze to cool us down. Scarborough sea is actually pretty clear for where we are, clear enough to see lots of jelly fish that had been blown closer to shore with the winds! The boat rides are nice to just feel a bit of sea breeze and do something different to just walking along the pier all the time.

As we were walking to South Bay from North Bay, we noticed people watching the sea and realised that a Porpoise was swimming along the bay! There are actually boats that can take you out to spot the Porpoise but it was £28 and we didn’t want to spend all that money when we’d just seen one as we were walking along the bay! This isn’t a great picture but they don’t stay above water for very long so this was the best I could get!

Most of the time we just get the open top bus from North Bay to South bay – as it is usually pretty windy and cold walking along there – but today because it was so lovely we decided to walk it and it was so lovely. We got to see the Porpoise as an added bonus, but it’s a really nice walk when it’s sunny and warm. The sea is one of my favourite places to be, I’ve always loved the sea. Living so close to the coast is so lucky, I don’t know what I’d do if I ever had to move more inland!!

In my opinion, Scarborough also has one of the best seaside ice-cream parlous ever. Harbour Bar is the name and their Chocolate Twist ice-cream on a cornet, oh my gosh. I never go to Scarborough without getting an ice-cream from there!

Scarborough Castle is another good place to visit! We didn’t go there today, but I’ve been a few times and it’s a nice walk around – there is also a church nearby with the grave of Anne Brontë; there is the original grave stone there and then underneath a new one as the old one is very old and faded and some of it is now unreadable. The castle gives a fantastic view of Scarborough for miles, on a clear day it looks lovely! The grounds are big for a long walk, you can go in a bit of the castle, and I love history so anything like this I think is great anyway! You can see the views of the South Bay and North Bay of Scarborough, with the harbour too to see the boats going out to sea.

Peasholm Park is another place we visit there a lot. It is a Japanese/Chinese style garden, pretty big, to walk around. You can have a go on the paddle boats around the lake, feed the squirrels – and the pigeons who seem to enjoy the nuts more than the squirrels do! – or just walk around and actually look at how pretty the park actually is. I love Japan (not that I’ve ever been but I am trying to learn Japanese) so when I was taken for the first time years ago I was in my absolute element. There is even a pagoda in the park which has a little water fall flowing down in front of it which looks beautiful. There is a little island in the lake where music is sometimes played, last time I was there I was sat listening to a man play Glen Miller songs on the piano which was lovely.

Seriously. The squirrels and pigeons love to eat the nuts, some are brave enough to sit and eat from your hands!!

If you want a quieter bit of the beach to walk along though, if you walk past Valley Bridge towards The Spa and carry on afterwards, you get to a much quiter part. It’s away from the amusements and all of the shops etc. and it’s lovely and quiet. My dad used to come here too, he had a rock that he’d sit on and just relax which he’s since taken us too to go and sit there. It’s a nice part of the seaside town away from the noise that I love coming to for a walk.  *Dad and my sister sat on ‘dads rock’*

Olivers Mount is a nice place to visit too just to see the view of Scarborough from a different angle. My dad studied at Scarborough Univeristy so while living there he used to visit Olivers Mount a lot on his bike. I probably get my love of Scarborough from my dad as he loves it too! It’s on top of a big hill, you can see all of Scarborough and more, sitting up there and watching the sunset it gorgeous and I love to do it when I can! On the very odd ocasion we’ll buy our tea (dinner) in Scarborough and take it to eat up at Olivers Mount t eat while watching the sun setting.

***I fell asleep writing this, so continued writing the next day – I now have very sunburnt shoulders after wearing the dress .. remember to wear sun-cream!!!!