A room with no view …

Here I am again.

Answering the call of the coast. I’ve lasted almost two months but it was time to return to the sea. A trip to break up the post summer, pre Christmas stretch.

I’ve got in to the habit of returning to the same places throughout this year that I discovered throughout last year. I couldn’t quite muster the required energy to explore new territory before now.

But this time, I decided to go for it. Explore a new place.

Leaving at 6am on Sunday morning, I enjoyed a straight forward and quiet journey down. Apart from the worrying light on my dashboard that looked suspiciously like there was a problem with a tyre. Damn. Drove extra cautiously as a result, promising myself that I’d address it once there. Not ideal I know!

Anyway, I opted to check out another coastal resort en route to my destination. As I was greeted by a vast expanse of beach stretching on for miles, I took myself for what could only be described as a bracing walk!

Spotted some guys doing what I imagine may be called kite surfing. It looked exhilarating if totally freezing.

Happened upon a little beach front café with a comfy sofa facing the sea. Perfect for a top up of hot tea.

Walked back rather briskly in order to beat the time on the car park ticket. How I hate paying for parking! It wasn’t straight forward either. The sign next to the metre gave a number to call and a code to quote to arrange the parking fee. Yet when I called it, they didn’t recognise the code. Not even when I attempted it another two times. Aaargh! And then when I did arrive back at the car park, I couldn’t find my car! A few moments of panic later and I managed to locate it exactly where I left it, on the floor directly where I had been looking. Saved myself a potentially very embarrassing phone call to the local authority. Phew!

Arrived at my sea facing accommodation to the sight of a car parking space directly outside. Relieved.

Checked in to the Hotel and immediately checked out my room. Old fashioned, dark wood furniture, autumnally coloured window drapes and a surprisingly modern en suite. But alas, whilst the window was tall to match the high ceiling, it also had absolutely no view. All I could see was what looked and smelt like some equipment to do with the extractor for the kitchen, to the left and a wall to the right. If I looked right to the top, I could see a tiny expanse of sky. Disappointing. The bathroom window was even worse with the necessary non see through bathroom style windows.

For someone who loves to be outside, not being able to at least see the great outdoors was utterly dismal.

Not to be deterred, I left the light deprived nature of the room to investigate the nearby harbour and town.

Had a little browse around a charity shop where I treated myself to a pack of three rather attractive pairs of new socks. I’m sick of seeing the worn out unmatching offerings that are usually adorning my feet.

Further explorations led me to discover a wonderful little place to satisfy my craving for a roast chicken dinner with all the trimmings. It totally delivered.

Once I’d got a newspaper, I took a slow meander back to the room for the evening as my early start was catching up with me.

The next day I enjoyed the luxury of getting up at a leisurely alarm free pace to wander down to the sea front establishments.

Found a suitable seat with a proper view from which to enjoy the mandatory cooked breakfast whilst reading Sunday’s leftover magazines.

It was so utterly relaxing, aided by the nearby presence of a ‘free refill on hot drinks’ machine, that it wasn’t until two hours later that I felt the urge to get moving again.

I set off up the coast to the next coastal resort.

Rain was threatening on and off but I made it to another very acceptable sea facing café complete with a window seat to host my next pot of tea and slice of most tasty orange and chocolate cake. Just before the next down pour. More magazines. And another room with a proper view to facilitate more sea gazing time.

Eventually embarked upon the return walk where I noticed a rainbow on three separate occasions in three different places.

Here.

And here, faintly above the houses to the left.

And here too.

A hattrick of them!

Had a last coffee out overlooking the harbour before returning to my viewless accommodation for an evening of film and easy watching TV.

Awoke on day three to the sound of the rain hammering on the viewless window. Usually I’d find such a sound cosy, but in this room, it felt depressing. I needed to leave the room.

Spurred on by the wet and windy weather, I headed for the Hotel gym. Bizarrely, even the windows in here were not the type of glass you could actually look out of! Aarggh.

I followed up my work out with a pot of tea at a table overlooking the wild and dirty looking sea. Here I took the liberty of reading the Hotel newspaper. But not for long as my stomach insisted I take it out for a feed.

In this weather, the only thing to do was to sample the local award winning fish and chip shop. It was good. And certainly silenced my stomach for a bit.

Afterwhich I sought out yet another window with a proper view to accompany me for some more reading. If I can’t get out to be by the sea, I at least want a window through which to look at it!

Finally, I returned to my hotel fifteen minutes too late for a cream tea. Gutted!

My last morning dawned bright and sunny!

So, following a hearty breakfast, I set off for my journey home.

And I was delighted to be back in my beloved bungalow!