Day 57: Monday 6th May

Bank Holiday Monday + Sunshine?????

Hell yeah!

C1 and C2 bounced out of bed at 7am without even a mini-blip of the alarm! 

Spare clothes, picnic, Factor 50 sunspray*, miscellaneous other joy-makers for a day at the beach. All packed and ready to go. Oops - now I realise that the main thing I intended to collect from Mrs Fisherman's garage was our fold-flat picnic/camping table. Must arrange to retrieve it asap.

Short drive to Mr 1957's house, then swap cars and head for the coast. The decision to aim for the bit of beach you can drive on to between Weston-Super-Mare and Brean was made for the following reasons:
1: my knackered knees
2: cheaper parking
3: easier to unload the 'stuff' from the boot

Good call - as we got there nice and early, we could choose a perfect spot for our day.

Den in the dunes...

C1 and C2 were like child-shaped popcorn as they leapt out of the car and got immediately sandy, smiley, wet and incredibly HUNGRY although breakfast had been eaten before we left our house.

The sun was hot. I don't need to say much more on this, apart from to warn all of you to check the date on your suncream. Mine is from last summer (BOGOF offer) and at the end of the day, even though it was Factor 50 and re-applied regularly, I may as well have applied cooking oil! Sunburn, grizzles and a spot of sunstroke thrown in. Ouch. 

Still, apart from that, the day was brilliant. 

C1 managed to perfect her body-surfing techniques...

C2 got heavily involved in dune-jumping...

Ice-creams were purchased...

                            

Sandcastles were built, admired and envied by neighbouring enclaves of locals.

Finished!

A pirate ship was discovered, in amongst quicksand, which was SO exciting - C2's eyes were wide with wonder......

Running very lightly over the wobbly sand!

Shipwreck!

Checking for Black 'Stache and Smee

No beach day is complete without some kind of al fresco food items... instant barbecue left over from last summer - more effective than last summer's sun-cream!

Onions, burgers and sausages.... forgot the bananas for pudding!

The sun started to go down as we decided to pack up the den. This was the moment when C1 and C2 decided that they simply HAD TO go for one dip in the sea. After failed discouragement, and reasoning ignored, they proceeded to get covered in cold wet sand just before they needed to get back into the car. Unhappy noises, but all sorted.

The day was almost spoiled by the traffic jams - homeward bound journey took HOURS longer. 90 minutes to cover 12 miles. I don't think so..... spot of map-reading, cursing at the Sat-Nav, and much patience, and after a much-needed refuelling stop just outside Bristol, (after suffering the 90 minute/12 miles fiasco) we arrived home very very late. 

* Factor 50, when 9 months old, appears to lose all powers of protection.