Yaverland one

Sunday was a very hot day, 30C or so, so we decided on Yaverland, the beach nearby which has seen quite a lot of us over the years, although not as carefully documented in the early days as it is now. See, for example, reference 1.

The tide was up when we arrived at the car park, so started off with a walk along the esplanade, towards Sandown. First item was a young down-and-out, with unpleasant dog but without several front teeth and who very politely asked the way to the nearest off-license. Later, we passed him sitting propped up in the sun outside one of the shelters there were at intervals along the esplanade. A few coins in his hat, but he did not look as if he was doing very well. Second item was a coach from Southall loading up after a quick turn and leg-stretch on the beach. It seems that they were on a day trip and had set off at 0500 that morning. It all sounded far too much like hard work to me.

Snapped a bit of what looked suspiciously like asbestos holding the edge of an elderly beach hut together. Fringes of Sandown a bit run down, but the large hotels just north of the pier looked smart enough. One was called the Trouville, not a name we remembered, and there certainly seemed to be plenty of French people about. This particular hotel also did a special package for masonic parties, including free accommodation for the Master and his lady. Did this mean that the proprietor of the hotel was a member of the craft? See reference 2.

Back to the beach below the car park for a quick bake and our first swim of the season. The water was surprisingly warm.

Out to our picnic and to be entertained by the contents of a crowded beach, crowded we thought afterwards with plenty of locals enjoying their day off. Plenty of cute children. Some people smoking, some drinking. Some talk of jelly fish, although we had not seen anything of the sort. Plenty of fat people and plenty of people with good tans. One chap, about our age, was passed mirror and comb by his wife so that he could attend to his hair after his sea bathe. BH thought that there was nothing very odd about this, but it would never cross my mind to take either mirror or comb to the beach. Not that I ever use a comb on my hair anyway.

Decided that it was too hot for tea and rock cakes in the beach café and retired to our cottage for cold gammon and boiled vegetables instead. A welcome change from all the goo of the evening previous.

Reference 1: http://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=yaverland.

Reference 2: http://www.trouvillehotel.co.uk/.