Sunday 15 April 2018

A ramble along the seaside



It's been a lovely weekend! It started with a quick visit to Dunelm with Mum. For those who haven’t heard of it, Dunelm is a chain of shops that sell everything from curtains and haberdashery to garden ornaments and crockery. I last went about three years ago as our local one is nowhere near a public transport route. Mum was going anyway to buy some curtains and I thought I’d tag along for the ride as I was really impressed by their fabric and craft sections last time. On my last visit, there were three aisles full of yarn, haberdashery and craft tools for various hobbies. Clearly this hasn't been a successful part of the shop and has been reduced to half an aisle since then. The pictures below cover most of what was available except for a sad looking shelf of yarn which wasn't worth a photograph. Oh well. On the plus side, Dunelm still has a good fabric selection and I bought a metre of fabric with bees on it. Potential project bag perhaps?




After that, I packed a small bag and headed to the south coast for a weekend with the boyfriend. Woohoo! We tried our hands at homemade pizza and made some happy dough.


Which turned into tasty pizza - chopped and puree tomatoes, grated cheddar and ground beef, yum!


Although the weather in the UK has been grey at best so far this year, there was a mix of misty mornings and lovely sunshine in the afternoons. 


I felt a bit like I was walking through a Victorian murder mystery. Beyond the line of grass in the photo above is the sea. It was eerie hearing the waves but not being able to see the water. 



This bit looked like the Pirates of the Caribbean right at the beginning with Elizabeth Swan sailing across the seas.



Next to the huge war memorial on the sea front is a far smaller memorial for 48 sailors who died of yellow fever on HMS Aboukir while in Jamaica in 1873-4. I thought it was a strange thing to remember but clearly had enough of an impact at the time to merit a stone memorial. 

The weather steadily cleared as we walked and resulted in hot chocolate sitting outside a pub in the warm sun. 


Followed by knitting in the sun back home.


I think I brought a few too many projects with me for one weekend!


Despite a bit of rain we headed out again onto the seafront in the other direction to the Round Tower. Inside you can still see the tracings on the floor for the canons.




Clarence Pier to the left.


Watching a yacht entering Portsmouth Harbour. The tides were strong and we could see the yacht's engine was finding it difficult to propel the vessel against the current.


Further out to sea are the three forts built in the late 1800's to prevent any threat from the sea. They were never really used and are now privately owned hotels and a museum. You can actually go for lunch on Spitbank Fort just for the day. 


My boyfriend's flat has a lovely view which on sunny days end in beautiful sunsets. Although looking at the photo above, I think we need to clean the windows! 

I hope you have had a great weekend whether it's been relaxing at home or out and about wherever you are.

Charlotte and Harvey x

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