Monday 8 September 2014

Sun Sea and Sand What More Could you Want?

We are back from our long weekend by the sea. Mentally refreshed and restored, physically tired, aching and a little sunburnt and in my case with a massive unidentified insect bite on my leg.

We arrived on Thursday and had to go straight to the shops because Himself managed to only managed to bring one pair of jeans. Trouserage purchased we headed to the beach with a bottle of wine and sat until it was dark watching the sea and the people.
 I do love people watching. A surfer dude who loved himself very much and spent more time posing for photos than surfing and some drug addicts in a tent with a fishing rod kept me entertained the most, though the later did rather spoil the idyll, I know it's life but it's not a part I was looking to be reminded of as I sat on a beach relaxing.

On our first full day we decided to hike to Hengistbury Head, a 15 mile round trip the thought of which I did find more than a little daunting. As it turned out the terrain was pretty gentle on the whole and it was worth it for the views.

It's a long way up and judging by the flowers and the odd wreath dotted about clearly a suicide spot which was another sobering moment of the holiday.
We sat on this bench for a while to admire the view, and because frankly, we were knackered. It was absolutely silent and still with no breeze, just gorgeous.

After a restorative dinner we decided on another quiet night chilling on the beach so called in at Tesco on the way back for more wine.

As we headed through the park the siren call of the crazy golf was too much so we did a detour.
Himself kept score but didn't tell me who won so it must have been me ;-)

We sat watching the dusk fall and the moon rise, drank wine and played with some of the settings on the new camera and no I still haven't read the manual yet!

I made a collage with what was in reaching distance around me
and in doing so found this stone which made us both laugh
A perfect day.

Saturday I was nowhere near as knackered or stiff as I expected. Himself had managed to break the toilet in our en suite so we took ourselves off for a beach walk whilst it was fixed.
I picked up about a hundred weight in pebbles and shells which I insisted on bringing home but made him carry in his bag (hehe).

In the afternoon I met my friend Alison for cake and much gossip. We chatted about various things including the fact you sometimes get dolphins around the area, a creature I have only ever seen in an aquarium and would love to see in the wild.
Next day she sent me a link to the BBC news website about a pod that had been spotted at Sandbanks right where we had been sat in a bar discussing seeing dolphins in the wild. I imagined it being just like the Kit-Kat pandas advert!!

That evening Himself was determined to go out. Saturday is probably not the best choice of night to sample the delights or Bournemouth's bars because it is the time the stag and hen parties are at their full and terrible height.
 I lost count of how many staggering shrieking groups of girls and baying groups of blokes we saw, it was like being plunged into a horrible dream.

This is the side of Bournemouth I hate, the seedy strip clubs and pissed up punters. Just to bring it all home and to remind me how very happy I am my drunken clubbing days are far behind me I will describe what happened in Yates's.

 They had cleared the floor for dancing and there were 2 girls right next to where we were standing minding their own business  and having a dance. One was tall and very slim in a black crop top and skater style skirt. Next thing this bloke from a stag party takes off his shoes and socks walks over to the girl pulls her top forward so all the lads get an eyeful then stuffs his socks down it because "you're not bad but your tits are too small and you'd look better with bigger tits"

 Himself and I couldn't decide whether the worst bit was what the bloke did or the fact that she just stood there and didn't punch his lights out for doing it, personally I wanted to kill him but it's not wise to get into anything, you don't know what might happen which I think is probably why she didn't react other than to remove the socks and leave.
Horrible, it really ruined any fun I might have been having so we also left and headed back to a quieter Wetherspoons off the main trail.
I had brought my Hawaiian Hell Bunny dress for an outing and I feel sorry for what it had to witness.

As Alison says on the one hand the whole Stag/Hen do reputation brings money to the town but on the other the amount of damage and anti-social behaviour it also brings might just outweigh the benefits.  




11 comments:

  1. That's a horrendous thing for a man to do to a woman, so disrespectful. I find myself disgusted with much of the behaviour in the world today. I haven't been to Bournemouth for many years, it used to be lovely and of course Sandbanks is supposed to be super swanky. I like the sound of your 15 mile walk. Xxxx

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  2. Sounds and looks like you have a great time by the sea - apart from watching that dickhead's antics. Hopefully, he'll get what's coming to him one day by an angry woman with a spot-on right hook! We have a Yate's here and its a place to avoid, full of beered-up morons in their designer gear. I prefer the scuzzy biker pubs - you get a better quality of clientele there - and music! ;-)

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  3. I am outraged, what an absolutely dreadful experience for that poor woman. No doubt this behaviour was fuelled by booze and the perpetrators perception that women's breasts must be big and fail if they are not. How very sad. Like Tania, I am horrified by much nowadays. A 15 mile walk...respect girl!

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  4. I imagine the poor woman was too traumatised to react. What an utter moron.
    Glad you enjoyed the rest of your break and hats off to you for walking that far. xxx

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  5. What a gross thing that guy did!!!!! Ugh!!! Awful.
    Your 15 mile hike was quite a feat... That's no joke!

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  6. Blimey, a tale of great contrasts; beautiful scenery, the wonderful sea, art on the beach, then some shitty bloke being a twat. You can't credit some people's behaviour, can you? That apart, it sounds like a good break, glad you enjoyed it. xxx

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  7. Augh, that incident in Yates sounds dreadful. I always imagined Bournemouth would be much more sedate than that. Stag and hen parties really do bring out the worst in people.

    You did some serious walking on your holiday. Buns of steel, lady! And crazy golf on top of it all... It sounds like a great break, oafs aside.

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  8. The poor girl, I agree with Vix, I expect she was absolutely horrified and traumatised to knock him out, he however is an utter fucking shit -
    Apart from that, your weekend sounded lovely, beautiful scenery is always good for the soul....and, of course, crazy golf! I love it x xx

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  9. God Yates! What a wanker. Sometimes I wish I was a superhero and my power would be flying in on just such situations with a pithy retort and a kick in the gob.
    Glad it was lovely apart from that. There's nothing quite as lovely as some time beside the sea.
    xxx

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  10. I come from Bournemouth originally (living in Devon now), and I still love it when I go back. Hengistbury Head is lovely, isn't it? The Yates incident sounds awful, but I think all town centres are pretty seedy on a Saturday night in this country now, sad to say.

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  11. Oh my God, what a completely awful thing to happen, that poor girl. It's the kind of thing in retrospect you think maybe call the bouncer over or something, but at the time it's just too shocking to react, and like you say, there can be an escalation so quickly if you do react at all. It's just really sickening that this kind of thing happens all too often.

    On another note, sounds like the rest of your trip was pretty great! Apart from maybe the insect bite. Nice to see your pics, P x

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