My sister, Charlotte, and Amanda’s friend, Marny, stayed with us this weekend, arriving on Friday night and leaving this morning, Sunday.
Beside the pleasure of a couple of drunken suppers in the company of three intelligent, amazing women, I was reminded by their visit just how lucky I am to live on the Isle of Wight. Yesterday, after a lazy breakfast, sitting in our garden until lunchtime, drinking coffee and enjoying Marny and Charlotte’s demolitions of their respective ex-husbands, we drove to the south coast of the Island and had a walk down beneath the Undercliff between St Catherine’s Point and St Lawrence.1
The day was clear and bright, with a decent breeze: perfect walking weather. Our guests were dazzled by the beauty of the coast and we rediscovered how lucky we are to live in an area where such beauty is a short journey away. Charlotte had brought her dog, Jasper, who responded to the open space of the beach with the sort of glee only a dog off its lead can project. It was a bit of a clamber to get to the isolated beach, but it was a wonderful outing.
In the photo above, you can see the point that marks the start of Binnel Bay. We walked to just before the Point, and then, thoughts of beer and chips calling, made our way back, before climbing back up the Undercliff Path to The Buddle Inn,((http://www.buddleinn.co.uk/)) where we had a pint in their gorgeous garden.
We drove on into Ventnor for our chips, which was a stage too far for my energy levels, really, but was an experience of faded seaside glory at its most Islandy. When we got home, we ended up collapsed on our sofas, knackered, and I abandoned plans to cook supper, in favour of phoning for a takeaway from the excellent Taste of India2 in East Cowes, where Amanda and I had spent a lovely evening last summer.
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