Lepe

Breakfast at our BnB started unusually. The lad at the next table handed me his gold medal - Michael Jones won the 400m freestyle at the Rio Paralympics. From these parts he heads back to Manchester tomorrow - we said we would wave at Monday's parade. Photos were taken (not putting these on blip, they include us !). The medal is surprisingly heavy - 92% silver with a minimum 6 grammes of gold. Reward for his heavy training schedule in Manchester, which restarts Monday.

We spent most of the day at `Lepe Country Park. Fantastic place, wonderful view of the Solent and of the huge container ships entering Southhampton Water. And a direct connection with our Normandy trip. It was here that much of the Mulberry Harbour was constructed before being towed to Arromanche, as well as the place where many British troops disembarked. Dominique told us the British should have made more films about the Normandy landings. Young French kids think it was only US troops who landed. They get their history from Hollywood - Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, and the rest.

Late afternoon - to J's Mum's. Part of the reason our holiday is proving so varied.

Extras (our BnB has good WiFi) - the dolphins, part of the remains from WW2 - they were part of a pier for the big ships carrying men and armour. The shoreline - brent geese here in numbers, flown in from Svalbard, as well as curlews, oystercatchers, turnstones, redshank, egrets and plovers (and swallows). And an interesting example of coastal erosion. Climate change is coming, faster than we think.