Friday 26 June 2020

A Cappuccino at Last! some Sea Pebbles and a Blast Beach Walk

Thank you for the lovely comments about my Mothers cushion cover  in my previous post, I must say it does look rather nice in the conservatory almost as if it was meant to be there.

What lovely weather we have had this week, yesterday my daughter and I took advantage of the beautiful sunshine and went in search of a cappuccino, of course none of the cafes are open yet but one of them was selling coffee to go, we had to queue at a window, give our order and pay, than we were given a collection number and had to wait  at another window until it was ready, what a difference! usually this cafe is packed but it's heartwarming to see how they have managed to adapt their business to keep it going.





We walked down to the beach where it was lovely to see people enjoying the sunshine but all being careful to keep a safe distance, a much different story in other parts of England at the moment.






My first cappuccino in 3 months!

A couple of weeks ago I visited a very different beach, this one is just a couple of miles south, it's a blast beach so called because of the blast furnaces that used to be active when the coal mines were still open, this part of the coast used to have some of the biggest coal mines in Europe along with other industries all spilling their waste into the sea, it was also used as a dumping ground for other mines in the area and as a result suffered some of the worst pollution in the world....






It must have been a huge undertaking to clean the beach up which is said to have been buried under 2.5 million tones of colliery waste every year but thankfully since the 1990 the beach has been rejuvenated and is now a haven for wildlife.


 I wasn't sure how to get down to the beach but a friend who knew the area well came along for the walk. It was pretty steep going I can tell you and if I had been on my own I would have never have found these steps  as they are way off the beaten track






Look at all those steps I've come down and I'm only half way there! 


Lots of beautiful wildflowers to be seen on the way down







The whole atmosphere is rather strange, it was deserted when I was there it's not exactly a place that you would want to spend a great deal of time in. In fact it's so eerie this beach was used as the surface of the planet for the film Alien three.

Image may contain: ocean, outdoor, water and nature, text that says "Blast Beach Alien 3 Planet #sunfm"

There at the back you can see evidence of the red and yellow oxide-coloured pools, they look very strange but I kept my distance, I didn't want to get too close.







It is lovely to see this lush growth made possible because of the rain water which collects like a lake at the base of the cliffs.

And after walking long the full stretch of the beach I was told that we had to climb up this cliff to get back to the top!







That was quite a work out! I could hardly breathe I was panting so much when I got to the top. 😂

I really enjoyed seeing yet another part of this lovely little Town that I've moved to and getting to know it's fascinating history. The sources for my information can be found here and here if you would like to read more.

We have sea pebbles a plenty on our beaches and I have taken a few to play with, I have painted them in bright colours and plan to paint numbers and letters of the alphabet on them for my grandson Mikey to play with he's fascinated with colours, numbers, shapes and letters at the moment, so I'm hoping he'll enjoy playing with them when he visits.




Have a great weekend everyone 😊

10 comments:

  1. I found your post so interesting - looking at the damage that was done and how efforts have been made to clean up the mess. I knew as soon as you showed all of those steps going DOWN that you would have quite a hike to get back UP. Sure looked worth it tho (easy for me to say!) Those rocks and cliffs and all of the stones! Thanks so much for sharing this adventure!

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  2. Terrible what humans do to such beautiful places in this world. Thankfully given a chance, Mother Nature does bounce back no matter how much we throw at her. Thanks for taking us along on your little adventure.

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  3. What a wonderful place the blast beach is, but a bit scary to get down to. We have made it out to a couple of quiet beach areas to enjoy walking, listening to the water and collecting rocks. I paint rocks too, and your idea of numbers and letters is a great one for your grandson. My grandkids are all too old for that sort of thing now. I paint pictures on mine and leave them in all sorts of places for people to find. It is a very popular past time over here. Enjoy the weekend.

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  4. A cappuccino and a beach !!!! Perfect combination ;) And with good company, better ;)
    Love the stone at the beach and the color you chose to paint them !
    Have a shinny weekend !
    Anna

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  5. How wonderful you and your daughter were able to enjoy the great outdoors and a cappuccino. I saw on the news one of the English beaches with what seemed like thousands of people gathered there....unbelievable really. Mikey is going to love his brightly coloured pebbles with letters and numbers painted onto them.

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  6. How beautiful this region is and what a nice but tiring walk you have had! So much fun enjoying the cappuccino with your sweet daughter.
    Good idea to paint the stones for your grandson.
    Nice weekend! ♥

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  7. It's not often I go out for coffee but I'm beginning to really crave a proper frothy cappuccino.
    Lovely beach walk and the painted pebbles are such a great idea. X

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  8. You live in a beautiful area, so glad they have rehabilitated that beach, it is beautiful. Stay safe.

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  9. We really miss having a cappo, we used to go two or three times a week to Waitrose cafe just to sit for an hour with the free paper, it broke the day up and was a good way to relax.
    Your beach is beautiful it reminds me of cornwall.
    Lovely pic
    Briony
    x

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  10. what a perfect isolated getaway spot during these strange times....loved the history and the tour! and I know you enjoyed the time with your daughter and friend. Aren't we treasuring these kinds of moments even more than usual?

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