We arrived at Mudeford on a typical English Summers day. Getting out of the car we found that the wind was more than just a little blustery.
The kids immediate reaction was a very grumpy chorus of "I'm tired and its cold". In our usual very sensitive parenting style we ignored the moans, added a few extra layers of clothes, and dragged them out anyway. How kind are we?
With the extra layers, the moaning subsided to a dull roar, so we headed to the cafe for my ritual cup of tea. After the cuppa we all felt ready to tackle the not so sunny Summers day. With crabbing lines, buckets, and bacon in hand we headed to the quayside.
I don't imagine that anyone ever enjoys stuffing raw bacon into crabbing bags, buts its even more of a chore in the howling wind. The kids had high hopes of filling the bucket, but sadly the crabs ( and very fast flowing water) were conspiring against us. 30 minutes and only 1 crab later the kids had well and truly had enough.
We decided to head for the little ferry that crosses the harbour. Aidan was in a foul mood after the crabbing conspiracy, this mainly showed itself in a teenage type sulk, a refusal to move, and taking pictures of us while he held up his hand in the loser sign in front of us. Its true what they say about 9 year olds being tweenies ( and almost as bad as teenagers). It took a little shouting, a little persuasion and some ignoring to get him back on track.
The ferry took us to the very exclusive area of Mudeford Sandbanks. Imagine rows of very expensive perfect beach huts, maned by 24 hour security. These huts sale for up to £125,000!
We wandered onto the beach, and enjoyed a game of lava monsters ( apparently we were monsters trying to get Aidan off of the rocks). This was fun until Aidan managed to fill his eye with sand, and so the moaning recommenced.
The little cafe was not cheap, but the food was impressive, who expects a fish pie that is the size of my 9 month old! The pie was full to the brim with squid, mussels, salmon, and pretty much every creature that lives in the sea.
Stuffed to the point of needing a nice nap, we headed for the land train. The train was a nice scenic little 15 minute sit down. The kids found a hill and proceeded to continue to damage their brain cells, by rolling down it as fast, and as many times as possible. The sight of their 40 something dad joining in was something to behold! You have not seen true beauty until you have seen a slightly over weight dad rolling down a hill.
The beach was a stunning long stretch of sand and stones with regular gurnards of massive stones along its length (and unusually it seemed to be very dog friendly). The girls amused themselves by finding stones, Elliot the baby decided eating handfuls of stones would be fun, while Aidan found a tub which he threw into the sea about a hundred times ( and soaked himself in the process).
As usual Aidan headed home soaking wet, and we all headed back to the car in a very tired state.
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