Well this morning dawned all blue sky and it was unusually warm. I did what I had to do today and by 3.30pm I decided that it would be nice to get out and visit Instow. There aren't going to be many more days this year where sitting on a bench at the seaside is a good idea, well at least without a cardigan, coat, boots, hat and gloves LOL.

So off I toodled, and upon crossing the new bridge, the strong whiff of countryside hit me................ they were fertilising the fields - oh I do feel so sorry for those people who live opposite the fields. They probably thought that living in a property on the riverbank would be wonderful - and let's face it for about 360 days of the year it probably is - it's just the 5 or 6 days when they fertilise the field on the opposite side of the river........

The lovely view across the river

This is taken from Bideford side of the river , just up from the new bridge and that is one of the offending fields.....

Anyway after managing to hold my breath for a while - I soon arrived at Instow and although the road was jam packed with cars and I had a lot of trouble finding somewhere to park, the beach was surprisingly quiet........

Lovely and quiet

Lots of boats have come back into the marina

The tide was on its way out

The sun was lovely and warm and certainly a change from my last visit to the seaside - there again it was in the afternoon and not in the evening. There were lots of dogs running in and out of the water............

Oh he was loving it in the water

and a lot of people were baring skin because it was warm enough.......

Few people taking advantage of this unusual warmth

The sand dunes have at last started to recover after the storms

The local pub was doing a roaring trade and the smell of fish and chips was gorgeous.........

A local pub with beautiful sea views

and some of the houses facing the beach must have really got wonderful views.....

Some houses bordering the beach road

The sun was quite strong

So I stayed there for about an hour, just enjoying the warmth on my face and taking the odd picture, then that smell was killing me - so I had to leave and come home........ I didn't cook fish and chips though - I had chicken macaroni cheese - one of my made-up dishes which is very tasty but it wasn't fish and chips LOL