Wednesday 8 June 2011

Gurnard/West Cowes beach

After such a full-on day yesterday, we thought that we would have a more relaxing day today.

The plan was to walk or drive down to the shore that is accessible from the campground park here (Thorness Bay).  When we got there the tide was out a fair way and it exposed a large area of smelly seaweed on a shale/stone beach, no sand and not very pleasant.  However, since we went in the car (to help rest Grandma's legs, after yesterday), we just drove out of the park and on to Gurnard, which has a beach according to one of the guide books.  The first place we stopped was not much better than what we'd left behind, but we carried on and third time was the charm!


We were virtually back at West Cowes, but there was a beach area with public toilets ("loos", as we often say here), chalets (you know, the little beach hut thingys), and a really nice playground. (Interesting fact: Cowes is the starting place for the Around The World Yacht Race)

The play area had a wooden construction boat in the centre that had a rope-chain & wood bridge and cargo net to get onto it with, and a large basket swing like those we had encountered at Riverside Park in Bitterne and Hundred Acres Wood.

There was also a challenging log walkway made of three long logs that were still round and an even more challenging log "balance beam" that was a single log mounted on springs!  I could only make it halfway across as it was very windy, and it is no easy feat to walk on a wobbly spring-loaded, rounded surface!

We detoured at a pottery barn (I think it was this one), almost literally this was a building that probably had been converted from a barn, and now was used for pottery crafts and selling such wares, not to be confused with the American company/store Pottery Barn!  Then we headed back to the campsite via a Lidl store (a discount store of German origin, known for budget shopping, but not too bad and a fair selection of fresh produce and refrigerated items).

After lunch we went to the on-site indoor pool for about an hour until it was closed due to a potty mishap in the baby pool - unfortunately caused by Owen, we were rather embarrassed.

Despite being "an easy day", we still managed to cram a lot in!

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