Singing Cockles and Mussels Alive Alive Oh

For those of you lovely people that have been reading my blog for a while, you will know I am not the biggest fan of Summer.  Give me Autumn and Winter any day, however the incessant rain and dreariness on days out and about has even made me a little down in the dumps.  The jousting from last Monday was marred a little with the dark clouds ever looming above our heads (however, on the positive side it did add to the atmosphere around the dark knight!).  So, with the promise of a DRY day and a happy Friday off, we all packed up the car and went for a drive to the seaside... Hunstanton (also lovingly known as Sunny Hunny).  The sun was a little shy to make an appearance but I couldn't resist and capture the bold colours against the bluey steel sky and sea.

Hunstanton took such an awful beating from the winter storms this year and this shows with the famous candy striped cliffs.

However, it was lovely to see that they had dusted themselves off and have made sure that the visitors to the town were not disappointed.  There were obvious signs to warn people not to be too close to the cliff edge and the prominent cracks in the rocks made this quite easy to understand.

But, the birds are still nesting, so all is safe for now.

The tide was going out so no waves going over the breakers.

And this boat was keeping dry today.

The clouds were dotted above us, sometimes clearing to show off this beautiful old seaside town.

And then, occasionally, the cloud bank would bubble up and cast dark shadows.

The eclectic mix of dress on the crowds of people made me smile.  Believe me, it was not warm when the sun went behind the clouds and the wind was quite chilly, but there were strapless dresses, shorts, winter coats, waterproofs - you name it, it was being worn (or not).

Can you spot her?... Mumsy?  The left of the above photo with her stripy crochet bag.  She is showing just how windy it was!  

But let's see what we can see...

With the wind blowing across the North Sea/The Wash, kite flying was a must and this little girl was giggling while her kite danced and swayed above her head.

There's nothing like a paddle in the sea, or even a little sit down, although a tad chilly.

And how about this commute to work?  The tyres on the bike certainly meant business!

I love taking shots like this one where I imagine what they are doing.  Is he building a moat? Is he looking for buried treasure?  I decided that he must be digging for some sort of shell fish, a chef perhaps catching something for the menu that evening.

Mr Teen was thrilled to bits to find this little treasure.  

Unfortunately there wasn't a pearl inside, but I loved the different layers and textures of this oyster shell.  Some layers took on the texture of snake skin and with the different creatures that were making their home within the layers, it was fascinating to look at.  A true treasure.

So that was the cockles oyster and now for the mussels...

Memories of last Monday's paella are filling my mind!  But then the droning noise of a heavy vehicle filled the air and Whizzy pulled up her bow to set off down the beach.  Both Whizzy and Wiley, The Wash Monsters are amphibian vehicles (I have put some details on these here).  Wiley was used as a landing craft for the troops during the Vietnam War.

As they paired up to take some people to see the seals, it was great to see them working so well after all these years, both on land...

 and at sea...

At our feet though was a the biggest surprise...

This little lady had decided to rest amongst the dry sea weed while all this was going around her.

But, it was time to hit the 2p machines in the arcades.  I took this picture shaking, sweating and extremely elated!

I had just spent a stupid amount of money in 2p's to inundate this machine to get a favourite of mine.  I had pleaded with the owner of the arcade to let me just buy it, but no, he smiled at me knowing I would spend far more in getting more 2p's.  Luckily another £2 later, I won it (if you can call it winning after spending too much!).  Here she is... Molly!

One day I will own the real thing but until then Molly is going to come along with Mumsy and me on any little trips out and about.  Stop giggling!

And so, it was time to head off home and leave the seaweed behind.

And Hubby, no you can't bring that the rock back home!

I hope the sun is shining for you, always remember to bring something warm and waterproof with you though.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Take care.

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