Afternoon at Freshwater Bay

Yesterday was a bit of a blur, after our journey over and the late night of catching up with our hosts, Bob and Mary. Soft whisky soothed the process very well. After a wonderful late breakfast in the sunny garden, we were guided by Bob and Mary to Ventnor, a delightfully old-fashioned seaside resort built in Victorian times. The town is perched on the cliffs and the undercliffs of the chalk hills,which run steeply into the sea on the southern most tip of the Isle of Wight.

After cruising the quiet streets we wandered down to the beach and had another coffee sitting under an awning watching holidaymakers soaking up the hot sun. Woodpeckers took a rather fine picture of an unusually attired visitor, just before we set off to explore the undercliff area at St Lawrence, a short distance away.

I wanted to try and find the place where my great-grandfather was stationed as a coastguard in the 1870s ands where my grandfather was born. We found the modern lighthouse at the base of the cliffs when we went walking down the steep hillside, below which the land was composed of gently sloping ancient meadows with wonderful wild flowers, butterflies and soaring gulls and buzzards.

The rest of the day seems a bit of a blur now. Food, wine, snooze, chat and that was all I was fit for.

Today, we stayed put and pottered about in the garden and relaxed. A perfect way to unwind. Late in the afternoon Helena and I wandered the two hundred yards down to the beach at Freshwater Bay. We went with blipping in mind, rather than sitting about on the beach in the late sunshine. The bay has cliffs at each end of the pebbly beach with a small area of fine sand nestling under the cliff face at low tides.

Woodpeckers took her picture close by where mine was taken. There was charming scenes of families with kids, young lovers and elderly bronzed sun worshippers scattered about. There was a lot of blip choice as we have found wherever we go.