Over breakfast, the birthday girl said ‘if it’s dry enough, I’d really like to go to the beach’……so when I popped out of the house to get a rock from our photography studio and noticed it had stopped raining, that’s what we decided to do.

We jumped into the car, drove to Crantock (making the birthday girl’s day because she’d holidayed there as a child) and walked along the beach. It was low tide so there was plenty of beach to walk. Rosie chased tennis ball for an hour and a half solid. I got my toes in the sea and John told us about how the beach came to be there. Archie skipped around in the waves and barked at his own echo.

These mussels were at the far end of the beach – the tradition is to walk as far as you can go before you’d have to climb the cliff to go any further. I was telling Janet how we used to pick them for the boys to eat when we’d holidayed there ourselves. The first time we did it, Colin was the only one brave enough to try. When it was clear the following morning that he’d survived the experience others joined him after that!

It was obvious that the weather had been bad in recent times – the churned up beach, the seaweed and debris on the beach all in a big, tangled mass, just like this bright orange twine round these mussels. It’s July for heaven’s sake – Not November – what is the world coming to?

It was lovely – a really nice way to spend a day. Then we popped to the pub for lunch and tried to give John another treat (more rock) but unfortunately the treat we’d tried for was closed!

It’s becoming a tradition to see Janet on her birthday – she was with us last year too. I hope the tradition continues into the future – they are fantastic guests and it’s always a joy to be in their company.

Happy Birthday Janet – and we hope you get home safely.

Last year? Wonderful contrasts - the same wonderful company but weather that this year we can only dream of!