It turns out that although the village we're staying in is on the coast, and there is a lovely sandy beach, it's not that easy to get to as this is an area of serious coastal erosion and the roads that used to go to the beach now just end in ragged cliffs. There is a path down from the local ice-cream parlour, though, which leads along a valley to a gap in the cliffs where it's just a step down onto the beach.

I walked there yesterday, when the sea was grey.



And again today, when it was blue.



I had been planning to try swimming, but it would have been a long walk with my swimming kits, and as a freshwater swimmer I was a bit daunted by the waves; it looked like a long way to get out past the breakers, and a long way back in again, and in the end I settled for taking my boots and socks off and paddling instead.



(The ice-cream parlour was also very good.)