This morning started later than yesterday did, thankfully due to a heady mix of fresh air, lots of walking, and a few beers last night!
It was around 6am but I couldn’t be arsed getting out of bed at first, so lay there until around 7am…
When I decided it was time to try and learn to paint with watercolours. I have had two relatively recent previous attempts, tbh, but those just showed how much there is to learn.
That pigment swills around in the water on a brush, and does some right funny things if you’re not aware of how to control it.
So I got up, looked out of the picture window, wetted some paper & let it dry a bit. I lightly pencil sketched the very simple shapes – a horizon, some clouds, and a big green field with a foreground hedge. And then put some paint on. I’m learning that it’s too easy to ‘colour in’ and use too much too soon. Build in layers of light to dark. And be patient.
Anyway, that first wash done and I joined mum downstairs for breakfast, to then discover Jane had been unwell in the night and was feeling rough (Jane sleeps in a room with Toby, the dog because “he snores slightly less than you do” hence me being unaware).
So we decided to make sure this was a very easy day. We had our breakfast, got sorted and decided to head up to Seahouses (which Mum kept referring to as Seahorses).
I managed to do a 7 point manoeuvre into a crazy tight space right at the entry to the busy pier & was silently glowing with pride at the result.
We eventually decamped and headed up the pier to find loads of parking spaces (3, 4 empty in a row). What a shambles. Thank goodness I didn’t make a big thing of my parking prowess!
Nice views from the pier end looking out to sea & watching all of the shuttling tourist boats heading out to hopefully catch a glimpse of a puffin or maybe even a seal or dolphin. Just like we will be doing on Tuesday from 2:15pm!
Meanwhile, Toby found his ‘inner goat’ and lept up onto the seawall, causing much surprise and joy. As I took a photo of Jane taking a photo of Toby, I then took another photo of what was behind Jane, which was a Banksy-esque stencil of a girl spray-painting a heart. Apparently it turned up overnight in 2023.
From there we headed into the town, where Jane stopped and visited a variety of touristy shops in the hope of finding a ‘tacky spoon’. This is a thing that has been going on decades. A ‘tacky spoon’
Is exactly that. A ‘silver’ spoon with a handle with a local motif or shield, or some other location-based stamp on it. We have loads of them.
Apparently they are now hard to find so Jane had to fall back to the next tourist shop position and she bought a couple of ‘baubles’ for the Christmas Tree instead – a Tin Angler Fish and a rolled back Sardine Tin with a comedy Puffin inside eating said sardines!
We headed down to the harbour and wandered along the rocky stretch of low-tidal rocks before Jane & Mum found a nice spot to sit & enjoy the view. Jane had the pocket Leicas with her (Jane’s Dad, Arthur bought well when he bought binoculars).
I on the other hand was on a secret mission, so carried on ahead, up to the coastal path and then to the pub.
I’d done a little research and thought the Black Swan Inn might be somewhere to have a ‘celebratory’ meal out. I nipped in via the under-glass outdoor space, thought the restaurant and into the bar, where I ordered a pint of IPA. I raised a glass to my Dad, my “in-law Dad” Arthur on Father’s Day before it quickly evaporated or there was a hole in the glass! Reception here is non-existent, which is why I assume I’ve yet to hear from Lurchio on the Dad Day stuff.
I’d seen enough. The food I’d passed looked outstanding, the bar staff were friendly and engaging. I was sold. We’ll be back.
We only just made it back to the van before the parking ticket ran out, but we got there! Oh, the jeopardy!
With no real plan in mind, we just headed south but only for a quick detour. Down and left, and we ended up in a carpark (free for an hour, £7 + for longer) Beadnell Beach.
Blimey! It’s fantastic! Loads of people there but it’s so vast that it feels like you’re one of just a few. Loads of Terns doing a ‘Stuka’ dive into the sea to come out and fly off with a fish in their mouths. I tried to capture a photo, but my timing was off so I only got the splash and not the moment before.
The hour went quickly and we ended up back at the van sooner than we would have liked, after this discovery.
Heading home, we turned off for a Sunday evening stroll around Craster Harbour. The pub with “Famous Crab Sandwiches” was busy (it is Father’s Day after all), but the rest of Craster was closed, including the Smokehouse, which was fair on a Sunday, late afternoon, but did mean no kippers for us.
We sat on the benches overlooking the harbour and chilled out for a while, watching a family learn to paddle board & make it look as difficult as I suspect standing up is on a floating ironing board!
I walked the pier and took an incredibly arty and original photo that I’m sure* hasn’t ever been taken before.
Mission accomplished, we headed back to the van, and after a brief stop at the local Co-op, we got back to “The Gap”, the official name of our cottage.
Since getting back we’ve made a leftovers ‘picky tea’ with many things that don’t work together, have dabbled with watercolour, crocheted, and looked out of the picture window. It’s been good.
We’re all yawning, the weather forecast is “who knows, but likely to include rain, so we’re all off to bed to see what tomorrow brings (Tuesday & Wednesday already have structure & timings).
So I bid you a bonne nuit! See ya in the morning!
Much love you gorgeous people, especially Dads, those here and those ahead of us, that were here before! To the Regiment!