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LAST PLANE HOME - PART FIVE:
Family Swap - 13/4/04
And now for something completely different. It was time to say farewell to Martin; the parents were taking our rental and driving him back to Heathrow (via Barbara & Don's for his laptop adaptor), so they'd be gone for the day. I wasn't so interested in a day driving and hanging around an airport, so I became an honorary member of the Singer family for the day - though it's entirely possible they didn't enjoy it as much as I did.
Anyway, our destination was West Bay, one of the more pleasant beaches in the area. It reminded me at first of Hawke's Bay beaches, in that it was quite gravelly - though more colourful, as opposed to gray. That was only the top of the beach, however; close to the sea there was actually sand. Obviously too cold to swim or even paddle - almost too cold to even take off my polar fleece, and blustery on top of that - we occupied ourselves by simply meandering along the strip of beach that seperated tall cliffs and the sea. It really is spectacular landscape, and it was a beautiful day to be there, despite the wind. There are worse ways of spending time than nonchalantly skimming stones while striding along the beach, taking occasion to explore the base of the cliffs. Camera at the ready, I snapped off a few of the cliffs and scenery in general - unfortunately my camera at the time wasn't well equipped; no optical zoom for one, and that with a low mega-pixel rating meant that long distant shots didn't come out nearly as well as I'd hoped.
Most of the way along the first stretch of beach, the parents (II) and Kathy felt like turning back - Phil and I felt that it was rather silly to have walked over 3/4s the length and turn back, so we pressed on. Not too much further the cliffs tapered down to an approachable gradient, leading up to a crude track along the clifftops. It was here that we encountered a wonderful irony - there was a barbed wire fenced between us and the golf club backing on to the clifftop, but not a single railing preventing us from pitching over to the beach below - just as well the wind was blowing us firmly up from off the sea. I'm not sure on his normal walking speed, but the solid rate at which Phil and I trekked had us sitting and waiting for the rest, of the family to arrive, despite having travelled at least half again the distance.
Eventually, we were joined by the other contingent, and set ourselves up for lunch on the beachfront at a handy fish & chip etc. shop. It was then back to the car and off by circuitious route back to the farm. All in all quite an enjoyable day; I could get used to that family in addition to my own. Dire Straits on the stereo - good taste in music too.
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