Mandi and I decided to brave the cold and go for a run, but not before we dashed into Morrisons to get some tacos, well the pack mix and I must admit I've never tasted them before. Also she had to get presents for Tony and hadn't a clue what to get til she'd talked to Stevie last night.

Anyway, after a quick dash - well a sort of quickish movement - we drove to Appledore, a beautiful little fishing village about 3 miles from me. I used to live here when the children were born and my parents used to have two shops here many moons ago.

Appledore Quay,

As you can see - it's not terribly busy for the last Saturday before Xmas, but that's probably because everyone is in the bigger towns, or else staying indoors.

Instow from Appledore

The tide is right out -

This is the view from the quayside, and you can see the tide is fully out - in fact it was showing two channels which I've not spotted before, maybe the dredger hasn't been out lately.

Little warship just finished being made

There are a few shipyards in Appledore and this is one of the last ones that have been built here. It's just having some odd things done to it, and then it'll be ready for business.
Mandi saying hello

We then went to Westward Ho, another couple of miles, and boy was it cold there. So Mandi went off to get some hot chocolate with that squidgy cream ontop. Mmmm quite tasty really, but that chocolate underneath was HOT!!! Burned my mouth - maybe shouldn't have tried to drink through a straw!!!!!!!!!

Dog walkers galore

The tide is far out

Obviously the beach is lacking the water as it's low tide, but you could see how rough the sea was..............

Glad I'm not out there

The waves are really strong

Looks good though doesn't it?

Boy was it windy out there and you can see the spray coming off the waves and there were a couple of brave souls, or maybe I should say idiots, who tried to surf out there. Then someone brought out kites for them to use instead, and boy they certainly hared off down the beach with those, and it wasn't long before it was given up for a bad job - way too windy to stay on the beach they would have been half way to Ireland if they hadn't!!!!!

Lots of people are coming off the beach

There were a few on the beach but soon started leaving, the dogs had a great time running free on the sand, but they did remember to bring their toys back with them.
The slipway at Westward Ho.

So we came home having had enough of the ozone to fill our boots. Now we are back with a lovely coal fire burning in the grate and Mandi has the halogen facing her. As long as she gets over this illness, that's all that matters.