We Are Back!

but it will take a while for me to catch up,

so here goes, into the car and we were off, to sunny Bournemouth, well that was the plan, in 2 hours we had traveled 11 miles! the strange looking smile is me trying not to show my broken front tooth,

so a coffee break was decided upon,

'Cheers!',

out of the restaurant,

and time for a pose,

and a quick blast from Diana around the car park, 

the good news was that we made good time, and soon arrived at our hotel, the Bournemouth Carlton,

we made our way to our room,

and had a look around,

as soon as we could,

we were outside,

and starting our walk to the beach,

crossing the road and looking back to our hotel,

and here we were at the top of the cliff overlooking the beach,

a monument I guess celebrating the aerial displays by the Red Arrows,

welcome to Bournemouth!

we started our way down,

a quick pose,

and there it was, our first glimpse of the towns pier,

we were blessed with a glorious day,

and here we were, on the promenade,

on the land side of the beach,

there were numerous beach huts,

all color coded, with,

and without Diana,

a quick look at the pier,

then I had to get into the picture!

this is what I meant about the huts being color coded, starting with lilac,

going to dark blue,

light blue,

and on to green,

before going to grey and light browns,

onward we went,

towards the pier,

passing the lifeguard station,

and perhaps one of the UK's most famous chain of fish and chip restaurants, Harry Ramsden's, 

the Red Arrows publicity team were here,

the Bournemouth eye,

Diana had forgotten her hat, as it happens so did I!

we were a bit peckish,

so before going onto the pier, a sit down,

and a Cornish pasty for Diana and sausage roll for myself as a snack,

a scream,

looking out to sea two people on a zip wire from the end of the pier to the beach came screaming in,

and were halted at the beach end of the wire,

on to the pier, the first we have ever been on where admission is charged, from memory it was £1.30 each, I guess it goes to the up keep of it, and I have to say the part we were walking on seemed very well maintained,

a pose from Diana with,

and without sunglasses,

a look along the beach, which we were told goes on in both directions for 7 miles, in the far distance Sandbanks,

looking back at where we had come from,

and away from Sandbanks,

another two screamers,

came flying beach bound past us,

there was an activity center on the pier, with all manner of climbing walls,

which we let pass us by,

but on the outside of the building,

a local artist had made a nice butterfly themed painting,

another one, 

just as we were nearing the end of the pier, we noticed the Dorset Belle docking,

as soon as the passengers were off,

we were on the sharp fronty bit,

we made ourselves comfortable,

as a seagull watched the Dorset Belle ticket seller below,

another two screamers came past,

I know it is safe, and if you do drop it is only into water, but the phrase 'not for all the tea in China' springs to mind, well for me anyway!

looking back to the shore we noticed this strange looking building with turrets, we will have a closer look in the next few days, 

a little further along the technicolor beach huts,

the boat pulled away from the pier,

and we slowly made our way along the coast, looking at the funicular railway, which unfortunately due to the current crisis is closed,

we made our way past various chines,

and more beach huts,

some of them double stacked!

the beach seemed never ending,

and it nearly was,

there were two cruise ships parked in the bay, one of 90,000 and the other 110,000 tons, there are normally four here we were told, but to keep the engines in working order every 10 days they steam to Southampton, to take on supplies and off load waste water etc, for the skeleton crew of 400 or so that keep the vessels in working order, 3 weeks on, 3 weeks off, is the crews schedule,

a quick pose,

and a panorama of the beach,

we had turned though 180 degrees and were heading back,

towards the pier,

and the sky tower, the start of the zip-line,

it was a really pleasant and unexpected treat, watching the beach go past, and the best news of all, Diana was not seasick!

so we had to have a celebration,

in the pier bar,

just as we finished our drinks,

the Belle was back,

I went for a walk and looked at the sky tower,

leaving Diana inside,

now this I would not mind trying again, in fact many years ago I did often go water skiing, not that I was good at it, but it was great fun,

I mentioned a strange looking house that had a turreted roof, well we saw this, so a visit is on the agenda,

we made our way back towards the beach,

stopping for a pose,

or two,

the weather could not have been kinder,

almost clear blue skies, as the top of my head was letting me know, 

we decided to walk into town,

through the park,

and into the town center,

passing shops and cafes on the way,

and this is where we were heading, hats and beach towels, were the order of the day,

I though this display looked nice,

the towns church,

our room,

and balcony,

which had a nice view,

another death defying sport I shall give a wide berth to,

looking down from the balcony,

glad rags on,

a quick look at the pool,

and we were out,

walking past the towns gardens,

one of the cruise ships in the sunlight,

past the pier,

and time for a pose and a rest,

it did not look far on the map, but what the map did not tell us was how step the hills were, that we had to go up and down and then up again, 

but we made it in the end, to the 1805 Chinese restaurant,

the decor was really nice, in fact the nicest we have ever been in,

'Cheers!',

Diana had a moketail,

for starters, spare salted ribs,

and shredded smoked chicken,

a crab and sweetcorn soup each,

our mains, Cantonese roast duck, sliced honey roast pork,

with rice and vegetables, 'Cheers!', not the cheapest place to eat, the bill came to £114.40, but the food was delicious, and the decor was just so right,

well I had to have a pose! as it happens it was a good job Diana booked the restaurant last week, it was full and turning people away before our main course arrived,

what a great start to our short break, we watched some television and with that we were off to bed.