The divers were meeting at the boathouse at 5.30am!!!
Yes. There really is such a time! I always thought the hands of my clock jumped from midnight to 7am whilst I was asleep.
Luckily, because we were travelling in our own car and not towing the boat and trailer, we were able to drive a bit faster so could get up a bit later. Phew!
It took us 3 hours or so to get there.
Oh sorry. I've never said where 'there' is.
West Bay. Bridport. Dorset.
Anyhoo we arrived mid-morning and it was sunny but quite windy. The guys (and gal - sorry N) got the RIB off the trailer and into the water. Here they all are waiting for the final member of the gang to get kitted up and on board.
For those of you who've not 'met' him before my hubster is the grinning loony at the front.
Eventually, after the obligatory hour of faffing about which scuba divers HAVE to do, they pottled off. These two photos don't show the true state of the sea as they are still in the shelter of the harbour wall. Once they got out into open sea the White Horses were charging about and they all got soaked pretty much straight away. Oh well. That's UK divers for you. Me and the kiddie had our sights firmly set on the yellowy-gold bit behind the boat and in front of the buildings (see below).
We spent a fab morning on the beach with ice-cream and a bag of hot doughnuts! Kiddie had a whale of a time, digging and building then rolling and sliding down the steep shingle bank. She loves the beach so much and can keep herself amused for hours.
When we espied the RIB coming back we scuttled round to the slipway to meet them for some lunch. Sadly the sea had just been too rough and they were calling it a day. If the sea is rough on the surface it isn't necessarily still all calm underneath. Plus, highish waves made it very hard to spot the surfacing divers, despite having metre high day-glo orange markers buoys to identify them. Hubbie ended up with a smashed chin as well when the RIB lurched in the waves.
So, once they were all changed and dry the other divers headed off for home, but we hadn't come all that way for half a day on the beach. We jumped in the car and drove round to Lyme Regis.
Which was heaving with people. Well it was half term.
We parked at the end of town by The Cobb and had the best chips for lunch sitting on the beach there. More excavation followed for the kiddie while daddy 'off-gassed' (went to sleep and snored loudly on the beach) and mummy people-watched. Beaches are just so great for people watching. Everyone is so much less inhibited when the sun is out, there's sand between their toes and the sea somewhere close by. Hilarious!
To round the day off we had locally made ice-cream. Well it's The Law at the seaside isn't it? I had rhubarb and custard flavour *dribble* Hubster had... err... can't remember what he had.
And kiddie..?
Well kiddie...?
Words fail me.
Just look at the photo.
Meant to be bubblegum flavour.Yes. It really was that colour. Yuck!!
Look what I got this morning!!
Jane wanted people to photograph the badges she sent out 'in situ' for inclusion in her catalogue. I told her about my Morris dancing rags and hat, and said that I would put my badge on either of these.
2 comments:
So those were WW doghnuts and chips and ice creams were they? I look to you as my weight loss role model!
I LOOOOVE that area. we went a zillion years ago with kids and my MIL who had never been anywhere south of Derbyshire. We went to everything anywhere near, Beer, Bournemouth, Lyme Regis, Charmouth, Abbotsbury, Chesil beach.....I would love to go again.
Westbay totally rocks. We have a cottage on the cliffs. Well my Uncle owns it, but we can go stay in his spare rooms now and then. A beautiful place in all weather. I have a small rig down there that we go out fishing in.
My brother camps at Lyme all the time, him and his bike mates go off in his Mazda Bongo. He also has the pop up in Orange and a solar shower that's quite cool, if you don't mind showering in public.
Love your heads, very... individual :)
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