Going to the beach is not something I often do, but during my recent trip to England I went to the seaside three times.
This is perhaps because in Moose Jaw we are so far away from the sea that I have rather missed it.
Living in the British Isles, it’s not that unusual to glimpse the sea on a fairly regular basis.
When I lived in Grimsby, I saw it every day and my husband lived on Anglesey (an island off North Wales) for three years so he was surrounded by water.
My first trip to the seaside during our trip in April was with my friend Lucie. Her parents have a holiday home in Barmouth on the west coast of North Wales so we went to stay for the night.
It has a beautiful old town with lots of small boutiques as well as antique shops.
The sandy beach is very long and full of shells and boarded by the Mawddach estuary. As you walk along, you can often hear the fast jets from RAF Valley flying over.
We had a huge ice cream and later some fish and chips with mushy peas as we watched the sunset over the mountains from her parents’ house.
During our time staying with my parents in Redhill, Surrey, we visited the south coast twice.
My husband and I took the train to Brighton. I love Brighton, having spent many hours there as a teenager, but it was my husband’s first visit.
Brighton became a health resort during the 18th century and a destination for day-trippers after the arrival of the railway in 1841. The Royal Pavilion was built for the Prince Regent at the turn of the 18th century and the building is very impressive and certainly worth a look.
Another popular activity in Brighton is shopping in the Lanes. These are narrow, winding streets which all seem to connect and as you follow them around, you can find original and independent boutiques. There’s also a lot of jewelry shops.
We spent some time on the pier, which is mandatory really. We’re both addicted to air hockey so we had a go at that and bought some Brighton rock (candy).
It was a very warm day so we spent a couple of hours relaxing on the beach. It’s a stony beach but you can get quite comfy as long as you’re sitting on a jumper or jacket.
As we lay in the sun, a band started up in a nearby restaurant and it really felt like being on holiday somewhere in the Mediterranean.
The next day, the sunny weather continued so we went to West Wittering, near Chichester, with my parents. This is a really pretty sandy beach with traditional beach huts and lots of sailing boats.
My dad cooked us a barbecue with lots of fresh sausages and bacon and we played ball on the sand. It was all very English — we obviously took a couple of flasks of tea, too.
After a walk along the sand, we headed back home. I was still finding sand in my shoes two days later. In fact, when I took them out of my suitcase back here in Moose Jaw, a splattering of sand spilled onto the floor so I’ve brought a bit of the English beach back with me.
Rebecca Lawrence can be reached
at 691-1258.
