Chasing Wider Horizons

It was yet another strike day on the railways so my brother had to book the day off work again as his boss won't allow him to take it as unpaid leave or make the time up.
So we again decided we would seek out the expansive horizons at the coast and settled on venturing back to Rye Harbour in East Sussex.
The meteorological outlook wasn't too promising and as we set off there was drizzle, dark and fairly brooding clouds and a stiff breeze but we thought we should press on regardless and just embrace the weather based challenges when we got there, although we did still make time for a pit stop in Tenterden for a cappuccino and a slice of cake.
Refreshments consumed we continued our journey on to Rye Harbour. You pass through the town itself and then on to the road leading to the Harbour where you are greeted by, it must be said, a series of pretty ugly industrial sites before all is forgiven as the coastal scenery starts to open up before you with those gloriously wide skies.
We parked the car and thought we'd have an al fresco pint (despite the vicissitudes of the weather) at the The William Conquerer pub before we set out for the mile long walk out to the shoreline. The pub is in a wonderful setting but there was no welcome greeting from any of the staff, who all appeared to be rather grumpy, which was a bit disappointing.  We were determined to enjoy our pints nonetheless!
It was then time for our stroll out to the sea. Before you reach the beach you pass through a nature reserve where you would normally have ample opportunity to view the plethora of local avian wildlife but they didn't seem to be playing ball today as we didn't see a single winged creature that was not a type of seagull (sorry for dissing the gulls!).
My main image was taken just as we arrived on the pebbly beach and is a view out to sea through one of the Second World War defensive pillboxes that are scattered along this section of coastline. 
By this time the skies had started to clear, or at least in the direction we were heading - you could see the dark clouds threatening a downpour on the opposite horizon - and I captured my first extra which I just liked for the combination of the local flora, the bright yellow canister with seaweed actually growing on it and the green tidal marker in the background.
The wind did start to then pick up and the previously mentioned dark clouds began to head in our direction as we made our way back along the mile long path on our return to the car - which you can see in my second extra where there was just enough light to capture the two cyclists as they traversed a separate pathway.
We set off back for home and passed through some villages where there had been an almighty cloudburst. Somehow we'd managed to dodge the rain completely.
As we got nearer home we were absolutely famished as we'd only consumed coffee and cake earlier and missed out on breakfast. So we stopped for a late lunch of toasted sarnies at the Village Tearooms in Headcorn. This time there was a friendly greeting from the staff and the food was great! Day out and blip done!