Suffolk Walk: Shingle street Beach

 

We often pop down to Shingle street each these days.  Just can't get enough of it. It is a beautiful and amazing beach, shingles there makes me feel I was on desert. This magical beach creates lagoons on low tide on the shore however changes every time. 

There are a few lagoons on shingles before get to the beach from the carpark. We used to love swimming in the lagoons. We used to see ladies from local swimming club came and had some dips. I haven't seen them these days. maybe time and days are different from when we go....We sometimes go there during the week or often on the weekend on low tide. 

It was in March, we went there again on low tide. Two lagoons on the shore, this magic shore  creates wonderful space to dip. The waves were very calm, quietly in and out over the lagoons. 

Low tide was about the sunset time when we went. It was just magical, I was floating in the sea, the moon in front of me, the sun was behind me, setting over Bawdsey and Felixstowe. 

Water was ( still is) chilly, but I love feeling the chilly water on my bear skin... Since I got my shorty ( 2mm) I now always wear my shorty. ( and gloves and boots😆 ) 

I never thought of going into the chilly North sea until a few years ago. When I was recovering from my treatment and surgery ( 2020, before I was diagnosed my cancer spread) , that summer, it was quite warm, really enjoyed being outdoor, and quiet lockdown beach. 

2021 summer, I begun swimming ( more like paddling) again in the sea, really enjoyed, just like previous year. Me and Marcus thought, maybe we cold push till November...then, December...then....ended up being in the water until now. I am sure may people do that too, cold water swimming, something about it, very addictive. we now go to the beach for dip about 2-3 times a week, if weather is ok, and waves aren't too bad. 

Anyway, If you are near by, try Shingle street beach on low tide, magic happens on the beach.  Even the lagoon (  one with water on the shingle), changes. I remember one year, it was still connected to the beach , when the tide came in, water flow in from the beach. Quite mesmerising to watch. Now this lagoon is completely cut off from the beach, created a wall between. 

Often kite surfers flowing and jumping on the surface of the sea, just watching it makes me feel really calm. 

I definitely recommend the beach  for summer or anytime for walks or cold water swimming on lagoons. 

Might see you there! 

Long Weekend--- Cornwall, West Country, England

18/June/2015

Wow, lovely weather! Blue sky, sun was out, perfect day for walks. (any day is perfect! :-))  I asked Marcus if we could go back to Tintagel for walks and some adventure. I loved it, everywhere I looked, I walked, I absolutely loved it. Somehow, felt really calm and energy was soft yet powerful, mellow and I was in love with this side of the country... Really different from Suffolk, I really thought that, especially seeing the views in the clear blue sky. we just driving along the road, Boscastle, then visited Tintagel

Cute local dog in the local farm shop car park

I was thinking all the time in my head, what I could do to make living, to be able to live in those area, on- line business, cheffing, doing yoga and mindfulness courses???...., oh, I needed to be able to drive too... my head was suddenly full of ideas, suggestions and questions. Different life there, such an beautiful place. 

We drove to Boscastle. Wow, it was very pretty and quaint. That was how I imagined west country. Sunny day made the view even prettier. I imagined how people used to live in olden days, must've been hard and cold too, living by the sea like that, especially when it was stormy day in winter...

Titagel in the daytime looked different from previous day, lots of tourists (like us), students walking along the coastal path. We went into the "Old Post Office too. It was nicely haunted, and really old. Man there told me it was grade 1 listed. Only a few in the country listed as grade 1. Wow! I told him I'd never visited Grade 1 listed building. It was well preserved. 

I said to Marcus, I wanted to eat chips for our lunch, and it was delish! After our lunch, we walked to near the ruined castle too, we didn't go inside, which run by  the English Heritage. We walked inside caves on the beach downstairs, and footpath instead.

"Old Post Office"

"Old Post Office" on sunny day!

Man & Dog

We went into one of caves there. It was deep and we came out the other side of the rock. It was huge. Sea water inside was quite warm, tides was out, all cold sea water was out in the sea...On the top of the rock, where the ruined castle was standing. I imagined feeling the energy of the sea from the top of the castle, then felt a bit dizzy (spiral). It must've been awesome to hear the sound of the sea from the top of the castle in the olden days. 

Wow, Magic Water Fall!

Going deep inside

Green English sea, not brown!!!

Not sure how long we were inside the cave, then we walked back along the footpath. Then I purchased an ice cream. I wanted to have 2 scoops on my corn, but the lady who was in the ice cream van didn't want to do 2 scoops. So I could only have 1 scoop! I wasn't happy. I wanted to eat pistachio and strawberry ice creams! Never mind....

Many many places to walk, to visit, need more time! 

Marcus then took me to St. Nectans Glen Waterfall. Form the car park which was along side of the main road, we crossed the road and started walking. I wasn't sure how long to take to the waterfall, I like walking, I'd rather walk than parking the car at the upstairs car park. It was lovely walks. Well sign posted too. Very green, and lovely air. I could not remember how much we paid for the admission fee. We didn't borrow wellies either. Once admission fees were paid at the reception, they unlocked the gate, walked down to the waterfall. Cute waterfall.

After spending 30mins or so, we hiked back to the car, then drove off. 

That was like any other holiday, I was looking forward to our dinner. I wanted to have an early night as I needed to attend my yoga practical assessment on following day, I was pretty nervous. So, we went back and chilling out in the "Dolls House". 

Long Weekend--- Cornwall, West Country, England

Tintagel

I needed to attend to a yoga workshop (or more like an assessment day for my yoga course), so me and Marcus organised a "long weekend" trip to Devon/Cornwall. We spent 3 days in Cornwall (Devon/ Cornwall border) and on our way back, we stopped in Glastonbury. 

 It was my first time in Cornwall (I only have been to Padstow, Rick Stein's restaurant....) and I was very excited. 



17/June

We left Suffolk in the morning, drove to Cornwall. Took us about 4.5 hours to get there, including losting time. Traffic wasn't too bad either. Road was quite smooth, not very busy, just getting through outside of London was a bit of pain, that was all.

In late afternoon, we managed to find our little barn conversion house. It was called "Langdon farm holiday cottage". This place, we stayed was called "Dolls house", like the name stated it was a tiny and cute. Marcus kept banging his head in the bathroom upstairs, I had no problems at all. I felt this cottage was made for Japanese! :-) Price was very reasonable too. 

We stayed there, because where I needed to go for my one day yoga workshop/assessment day was about 0.5 hour drive, that was if we didn't get lost....

Anyway, we quickly unloaded our bags and off to exploring! It was very misty, and felt like going through extraterrestrial world. It was beautiful.

Parked our car at the car park in Titagel, started walking to the sea. All shops were closed by then, only some tourists like us were walking through the village, and looking at shop windows.

Then I came across an cute stone house!  It was run by National Trust, "Old Post Office". I would love to get inside to have a look tomorrow, that was what I was thinking. I quickly took a few shots, carried on walking.

"Old Post Office"

Marcus lead to me to the footpath, I was thinking already, " How long do I need to walk? Does he know where we are going?" This is kinda norm thinking of mine, as Marcus often takes footpath which he is unsure of, and get lost. Mind you, always work out well, and fun, so I shouldn't, really, moan. 

I think I was a bit tired and hungry, feeling myself getting grumpy, kept looking at pub menus and restaurants or chip shops...That was why possibly, I had some doubt...

Anyway, we managed to walk to the sea though beautiful footpath in the mist. Very up and down, rocky and every time view changed, I was wowing, never saw views like this in this country, well, Suffolk and Norfolk. Suffolk is very flat, compare to the west country! It was like France! or Italy! 

"To the coast"

Water! Clear Water from rocks! Love putting my feet in.

We walked round and spent some time, then walked back to the car. On our way back, we popped into a few shops to get some things to eat for our dinner. 

Couldn't find a big shop that day, we were really impressed none of  those small villages didn't have Tesco, Morrisons or Sainsbury's!

We had an early night, dreaming about tomorrow adventure...