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Saturday 5 December 2015

Trip to the seaside in December

Having suffered with a wretched cold for a couple of weeks which had left me feeling low and under my occasional "grey blanket" with absolutely no energy and all my joie de vivre missing and having hardly been out of the house with far to much time to think about the problems which beset our world at the moment I was keen to make the most of the sunny day we were forecast yesterday and to go out and get some sea air and a bit of a walk.  I think I have shared Wendell Berry's poem with you before but I make no apologies for doing so again:

The Peace of Wild things
By Wendell Berry
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
The water was not still and there were no wood drake just happy dogs and sea-gulls but the effect would be the same.


The best of the sunshine was to be in the morning so we set off for Dorchester about 10.00 parked the car and then caught the bus into Weymouth - I love the place in the out of season months but we avoid it during the summer when the beach is packed with lobster coloured bodies!  The beach was almost empty just a few dog walkers - no dogs allowed in the summer months so the dogs were having a great time dashing in and out of the water -  I'd rather them than me though as in spite of the sunshine there was a keen wind and I am sure the water must have been freezing but they didn't seem to mind.


A little still life put together by the sea.



We didn't walk far just along the beach and round to the harbour and...


..... back along the beach to the bus stop  - it is hard to envisage this same beach crammed with holiday makers.


Not a soul to be seen - actually there were a few people who like us were taking advantage of the sunshine but not many. Back in Dorchester we had lunch and went to the library (living on the Somerset/Dorset border we are allowed to belong to both county's libraries) and then made our way home before it got dark - about 4.30 these days. I certainly felt better for the short walk and the sea air!  A sunny day is like a diamond at this time of year and being retired and able to take advantage of them when they come along is one of the bonuses of getting old!


 I spotted these cheery daffodils in bloom across the road on Thursday as I waited fot the bus to take me to neighbouring Crewkerne to meet a friend for lunch.  They are an early variety and I have come across them in bud late in December before but this early?!! 

14 comments:

  1. Thank you for the breath of sea air - and daffodils! Wonderful sights on a grey and windy day here in Middle England.

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  2. A brisk walk is always reviving! Daffodils are just beginning to be seen here, but so far none in my garden.
    Hope you feel really well soon.

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  3. I can breathe again now, thank you! I do love a deserted beach, so calming.

    Imagine, daffodils in early December, I am flabergasted.

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  4. It all looks lovely. I had not thought to go to Weymouth for a daytrip, thanks for reminding me how nice it is in the low season.

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  5. Thank you for the visit to the seashore. You have prettier seashells than we do. That Wendell Berry quote is wonderful - really captures that truth of the peace we can find in the wild.

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  6. just perfect. I have been a bit under the weather and this cheered me up too. I love the poem. x

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  7. What a wonderful poem. So glad I've found it. All the best! Regula

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  8. Can't beat the sea or the seaside on a bright winter's day. Wish our weather over here looked like yours. That grey blanket of yours is the perfect metaphor for what we've been living under for the last couple of weeks! Must feel good to have the Wanderer home and be able to get out and about without that niggling worry. Hope she will be home for Christmas, full of tales and photos to match.

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  9. Jane, thank you for a calming, serene post. I love the poem, am going to copy it and re-read when I need an escape from the troubles of the day.

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  10. I love a sunny winter day and you made the most of it....we have had an awful lot of dull grey days recently! I agree there is nothing as good for blowing away the cobwebs as a brisk walk along a beach on a fine December day! Xxx

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  11. What a nice day out you had Jane. So glad you are feeling better. As you saw on my blog I've been remembering our last trip to England ( fondly ! ) and wishing we could visit again some day.

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  12. WHAT! Daffodils! Good grief... but it has been mild hasn't it! Love the seaside in winter too but today was the first time we'd seen the sun in what seems like an age! Thanks so much for your continuing visits despite my long absences! xx

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  13. I love that poem, Jane, thanks for including it. And your photos are very peace-inducing; very apt as I'm in that kinda mood myself! And those daffy… incredible isn't it?

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