It had been 20 years since my partner had seen the sea and she was feeling its pull so we sought somewhere suitable via a combination of brochures and Internet. B&Bs were out - the tedious inevitability of explaining the vegan diet to well-meaning but ill-informed proprietors did not form a part of our ideal holiday scenario. Ditto hotels. Self-catering, then, but must be by night rather than week; on the east coast, preferably Lincolnshire. And then suddenly, it dropped out of the rank-and-file apartments, flats, houses... a group of cottages on a farm, the sea within walking distance. The photos on the website sold it to us - minimal, clean, comfortable, beautiful surroundings: we booked.
Then the problems began: the cheque to pay the balance went astray; its follow-up took ages; and the weather forecast had thunderstorms. Then there were significant delays on the train, meaning we'd have to catch a later (by a full hour) connection bus. But we waded through it all, eventually travelling through a countryside of mist and rain, arriving as the rain was dying and the sun was trying to assert its dominion. The scene had a curious beauty, dripping and drying and surprisingly warm, but with low-to-medium visibility. A long walk down a longer lane, fully laden with rucksacks and finally we arrived - the photographs we'd seen had captured the atmosphere well. But no time for hanging around - a quick visit to a nearby shop was essential, before it closed, to lay in some basic supplies for breakfast.
It was then a longish walk into 'town' as we weren't sure whether there were any closer shortcuts to the sea-front but, at just after 6:30 in the evening, we made it to the sea, in defiance of all the little niggles that seemed to have been conspiring against us. My aqua-girl, re-united with her watery element, a pleasure to observe such fundamental joy in a loved one.
The weather improved: the next day began with light rain but that cleared up by the time we left the cottage. We discovered the local shortcut to the sea: the waves were wonderful in the firm easterly breeze, dramatic and playful by turns. But this wasn't picnic weather, so back to base for lunch, though we did get our picnic in the next day, much further up the coast in the dunes. And we got more: the weather had taken a dramatic turn but we hadn't taken the sun-block out with us - we got somewhat burned.
Sad to leave the next day, and rather painful with the rucksacks chafing the burns but we vowed then we'd be back... and so we shall, in September...
