A Shore Thing!

Ok, so the other day it was nice and sunny, (the first sun for a while and the promise of some much-needed vitamin D and March warmth). I decided to take a break from everything and head to one of my favourite walks/hikes.  ‘The dogs’ll love it’ I said to myself and off I went.  Please join me in this pictorial walk through!

       

The locals seemed a little hostile – take a wide berth, best avoid!

Walking down to the access point to the bay at the start of the walk, I was happy I hadn’t taken the car this far – just look at those extortionate parking fees – sheesh!

A bit of a worry when we got there though – the seaside town opposite seems to have slipped into the bay!

A little further and we stumble upon a kind of natural amphitheatre.  Actually, in my youth, my band dragged/hauled some gear to this spot one summer evening.  We set it all up on the rocks, lit a fire (the one in the foreground) and had a merry old-time playing our songs with friends and ‘chillin’ out man!’

Onwards, and the bay opens out… like this.

The tide has been out a while, and the sun beating down has left it looking like this!

Perfect for the guys to have a mad half hour, ramming around…like this!

Until Pip looks like this…

And Teko looks like this!

Oh, and what is it with kids and water huh?!

Ah! the secret path leading to the cliffs!

And…the secret path on the cliffs!

Revealing scenes a bit like this!

A little more scenic distance bring us out to this wonderful cove.  To my left, amongst the trees, two Goldfinches danced and darted around the branches – they were too quick so I gave up on the ‘photo op’.

Look! a fossil! (…I know a few of these back home! ;))

Time for a quick snack!  These two were not amused as I tucked into a muesli bar.  No, I didn’t share it with them, hence the glum faces!  (They did get a dog biscuit each though!)

A short detour through a static caravan and chalet park to get on track for the car – what a great name for this chalet by the sea!

 A little further and I chanced upon some more inhabitants.  These guys seemed a little less hostile!

Back through a peaceful woodland and to the car – (I hope it’s still there?!)

Teko!  Look at the state of you!  You are not getting into my car!!!

Thank you for coming with me, I hope you enjoyed it!

Do you have a favourite walk/hike?  …and can I come with you sometime?!

🙂

Bookish Photo A Day Challenge – February 2015: 2. Random Page.

In response to Bluebookbelle’s Bookish Photo A Day Challenge – February 2015 #AWORphotoaday

My random page…

…just happens to be page 46 of Mark Haddon’s brilliant novel The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time.

I just picked it out of the bookcase, opened it up and it was this page I fell on.  It’s actually a great page where the central character, Christopher, describes his issues, suffering from autism.  You might just be able to read it in the pic!

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is an ingenious novel both because of its reference to that most obsessive and fact-obsessed of detectives, Sherlock Holmes, and because its lower-case letters indicate something important about its narrator. Christopher is an intelligent youth who lives in the functional hinterland of autism – every day is an investigation for him because of all the aspects of human life that he does not quite get.

When the dog next door is killed with a garden fork, Christopher becomes quietly persistent in his desire to find out what has happened and tugs away at the world around him until a lot of secrets unravel messily. Haddon makes an intelligent stab at how it feels to, for example, not know how to read the faces of the people around you, to be perpetually spooked by certain colours and certain levels of noise, to hate being touched to the point of violent reaction.

Fifteen-year-old Christopher has a photographic memory. He understands maths. He understands science. What he can’t understand are other human beings. When he finds his neighbour’s dog, Wellington, lying dead on the lawn, he decides to track down the killer and write a murder mystery about it. But in doing so, he uncovers other mysteries that threaten to bring his whole world crashing down around him.

This book made laugh out loud, yet empathise with Christopher and his world – brilliant!

Here’s to spontaneous smiles…

In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “Express Yourself.”

The very moment my new pup, Teko, collapsed from exhaustion and fell sound asleep after her first mad half hour in her new home! : )