Tuesday 9 August 2011

A Visit to the Seaside



Last Friday was our wedding anniversary and we woke up to sunny weather so decided, on impulse, to drive to the seaside for the day.


Now, the one thing wrong with Sheffield is that it is bang, smack in the centre of the country so about as far as you can get from the sea! Undaunted, we set off for the East Coast..


Unfortunately, it wasn't long before clouds began brooding overhead, as you can see from these sketches I did through the windscreen. Less fortunately still, we hit such appalling traffic passing York, that we had to give up on our chosen destination of Robin Hood's Bay (the place we started our honeymoon, 18 years ago) and detour to Bridlington

As least it didn't rain. 


We put a couple of hours in the meter and I had a bit of a paddle, then we sat on the sand and I painted this watercolour sketch and the one at the top. Then we decided to brave the roads once more...


We eventually made it to Robin Hood's Bay, but it was already nearly 4.30pm. The tide was right out, so we had a rockpool-stroll along the beach, then a well deserved drink, watching arrivals coming in at the end of the Coast-to-Coast walk. Then we decided we had spent quite long enough in the car for one day, and booked a B&B.

It proved to be a good plan as we enjoyed a nice meal sitting outside The Dolphin:


...and then an excellent evening of folk music in the bar upstairs. It was one of those 'open mike' events that can go either way, but we couldn't believe just how amazing the standard was. There were 3 visitors in town, all of whom had the whole pub gobsmacked. I couldn't resist some more sketching:


One was a lad of just 13, who even wrote some of his own songs:


Next day the rain finally came. And how! We managed a quick visit to the harbour and a pot of tea outside a cafe (with just time for this final painting) before the skies opened and we had to start home. 


A lovely treat though.

8 comments:

granny grimble said...

What a lovely blog that was Lynne. How I wish I could have a weekend like that. I felt I was there lurking in the background and it reminded me so much of similar times that Dad and I had had in days gone by. Now I feel quite tearful :0)
XX

Julia said...

Sounds like a lovely weekend Lynne, love your sketches too although you're right about Sheffield, only downside is that it's landlocked!

Julia x

Balaji Venugopal said...

Superb post!!!
I love the way you have alternated such lovely sketches and brief, but very interesting comments.

Ira R said...

Real nice!

Anonymous said...

lovely sketches
jane Kristiansen

Unknown said...

Despite the traffic & rain, sounds a fabulous couple of days. I really like your sketches especially the watercolours.

Anonymous said...

Loved reading about your trip to the coast. Your sketches are great but it is the text that goes with them that bring us inside the story you are telling. Quite lovely!

Lynne the Pencil said...

Thank you everyone x