Sheep in woolly fold - being rounded up for their annual injections. Note how steep their pasture is. The red thing is my coffee cup!

I have uploaded my photos from the visit to Flickr at last - http://www.flickr.com/photos/lornapics/
Here you can see many activities and some stunning countryside.

I went out to the coast today with Aidan, which made me feel better about being back for the sea was also stunning. It was not windy enough to fly a kite, but the sun shone and I ate too many chips and drank a lot of tea and coffee - so a bit back to normal. Determined to be more back to normal tomorrow.

Aldeburgh beach in its natural form

By contrast - Aldeburgh beach looking to the left- the carnival

On Sunday - I spent a very good day at Aldeburgh. I was there early enough to get a parking space near the beach. I did it all - walked the full length to the sailing clubs, sat around on the beach, ate an ice cream, walked through the carnival and walked through the shops. I came home refreshed and a lot less gloom-laden than I was on Saturday.

Lifeboat launched at Aldborough - impressive demo for RNLI open day. At least I am watching from the shore rather than being rescued by it (as happened in Iris May when I went aground - 6 or 7 years ago.) I wondered if anyone else on the beach had actually been rescued and towed back to harbour.

Beach on Saturday with Aidan: bright sunshine, no clouds - as summer should be.

I am trying to recover from the excesses of the regatta - but my legs are still stiff. At least the sun is still shining.

Lorna on a stony beach - Southsea 1953

1950s: Proves I had a primitive camera

I am making slow progress with sorting out pictures partly because I have been out a lot in the good (and recently indifferent) weather. I have somewhat overdone the going out and rushing about, and have felt mildly washed out for a couple of days.

 And I went to bed too late on Friday - I was captivated by the weird (maybe because it was weird and rather fun) Olympic opening ceremony! And rather better misuses of history than a socialist / feminist might expect.

This week the Plan is to do indoor things and go the gym in preparation for the sailing club regatta next week. Nous voyons - - .

Me, my doll (Louise) and my mother on a beach - probably  Bournmouth - c.1946

1940's; a beach. I spent a lot of my childhood (when not being educated or otherwise transformed into an adult) on beaches. We moved to Southsea, which had a gravel beach like those in Suffolk. And I used to walk along the sea wall there just as I do here. And we went on holiday to various beaches in Devon and Cornwall, where we ran around in the sea and appreciated the sun (which always shone of course.)

I have done holiday stuff in sunshine this week. Two days on the beach and two days with boats. I sailed the dinghy for about an hour yesterday in modest wind. It feels safe to launch and play here without safety cover, a thing I would not have done on the North sea. I even managed to launch and recover without help through taking things very slowly.  I suppose I am getting used to the ramp although I do not launch and recover with much panache (yet). It has the advantage of a shorter distance to get the boat out of the water.

Felixstowe beach looking towards the Deben entrance. This is how summer should be - -

Summer - and two days on local beaches - Bawdsey and Felixstowe. Bawdsey was refreshingly cool as there was a sea breeze. Very little wind at Felixstowe and I walked from the here round to Felixstowe Ferry.

Today - heading off to Lookfar to sit in the sun yet again. The tides are wrong to get out on the river for long.

On a beach - perhaps Bournmouth - with a boat.

1940s: I had to include this as it illustrates two of my life-passions - beaches and sailing (although I did not do sailing until I was about 40.). I think my father  made the boat - note the aluminium wheels - he often used aluminium for the things he made.

Rhoda and I at Aldbrough on Friday last.

Rhoda and Doug have now gone home. The weather was cold and horrible for most of the time but the sun flashed out for us to eat fish and chips on the beach. I managed to walk round the town and along the beach - so my range is improving. I even avoided the (very nice) shops in Aldburgh - perhaps I was too tired by I got to them.

52 Degrees North  - Bawdsey and the mouth f the Deben

The side effect of  fatigue suddenly kicked in on Thursday afternoon - fortunately after I had done some  shopping. I have felt zapped since but not as bad as on the three previous occasions. So on Friday I dozed infront of the tele and watched the election results and the very curious (ie wrong) commentary from the pundits - but did not get angry.

Aidan was here on Saturday and he drove to Bawdsey - it was high tide and there were intrepid trainee sailors spread out as far as the West Knoll bouy. It is very refreshing to see the sea - and to feel the wind. I walked a few meters along the beach amongst the cabbages and watched the waves pile onto the beach and the tide change.
Today - temperature was 6 degrees C. at mid  morning. I promised not to moan about the weather - but - - - . A bit more zapped today but I did go out for a coffee and newspaper  - so am not housebound.

Keeping the sea back  - work at Thorpness

The big bags get lifted and piled along at the top of the beach to stop the waves undermining the houses and the cliffs.

I like the rough waves breaking on the gravel shore - probably the end of the autumnal sun and frequent trips out to the coast.

The cliff view last week - I took the other one from the railing to the middle left.

The sea at Thorpness - powerful waves

Went there yesterday and walked the beach and went rowing on the meare.

Went there today to take pictures of some rocks in the cliffs.

Bright sunshine, warmer wind today and rather a lot of tea and food in the meare cafe.

Thorpness meare - a man-made lake

Another fine place - rowing boats for hire, with loos and tea room all within a few meters of each other. The car park and beach not far away.

I have now taken the anti-coagulent for some weeks and assume it has done the trick as I am no longer breathless. But I don't feel as well as I did before the clots developed. It maybe that it won't get any better or it maybe that a bit more rehabilitation is needed. Either way - one way ahead is to have little treats - today's was to go to Aldburgh and investigate Thorpness (after a regular gym session). Helped by bright sunshine and thick clothes against the cold wind.

 

The beach at Dunwich - Tuesday 6th Sept.

Wind, surf and lashing rain - exhilerating.
You can deduce that I have been out and about - with Aidan on Monday and Tuesday - via various tea shops and nice places. But I continue to feel drained and not really very well.

beach, rainbow and cloud; Shingle Street Monday 5th Sept

Another good beach and over-arching weather. A metaphor for my life.

Beach with tractor and a boat at Aldeburgh

Another excellent beach - and a town attached. I spent the afternoon there on Wednesday - good ice cream and coffee in the beach gardens. They really do launch fishing boats off the gravel beach.

Orford - looking downstream. The far bank is the inland side of Orford Ness.

I drove out to Orford yesterday (Friday), had lunch in the excellent tea rooms there and wandered along a few meters of the shoreline. The grey of the picture encapsulates my mood although it was good to see rain and clouds in a different place.

Another day - another best beach
Looking North towards the Deben estuary from Felixstow

Monday - I took delivery of the new car and took it out for a run to Felixstow beach - very pleasant views with car parking and a coffee shop right on the cliff top. Automatic gears take a bit of getting used to but have only grabbed for the gear stick a couple of times. It was more tiring than I expected!

Tuesday -> Wednesday -> Thursday - on the river for a shake-down cruise. Just as well as several things worked loose including the shackles that held the main sheet blocks and the genoa blocks.

Shows how close the bouy is to Bawdsey beach - and the white bits show the strong current.

I went downstream with the tide and the wind - and picked up the big visitor's bouy in the entrance to the Deben. There was ferocious current in and out for some of the tide, but it was a fun place to stay when the wind was reasonable. I dropped the mooring at 9-00 on Thursday and went back with the wind on the nose but the tide with me. It took longer than it should because of aggrevations with shackles. I solved these by picking up a mooring and fixing them.

View out to sea and my wake in the tide.

Next task - to check all shackles and split pins

Monday: No haar - I tried another favourite beach. Bawdsey - you can park right by the beach and barely have to move all day, apart from getting an ice cream. I park overlooking the river, roughly at the end of the trees to the left. A great place.

Bawdsey Quay and beach. 
Seen from Lookfar on the visitor's mooring in the Deben, of which more in another post

What heatwave? I went to the beach at shingle street to lie around in the sun to recover from yesterday. The haar came in after an hour  (they call it sea mist here which is not such a good name).

Haar at shingle street.
It was not a proper Scottish haar but enough to keep the heat wave away.

But a nice day out.