Oh we do like to be beside the seaside!

Today's long walk was an 11.5 mile circular from Seaton Sluice on the north east coast taking in Holywell Dene, The Church of Our Lady at Seaton Delaval and Blyth. Where was the coldest place in the north east today? After all the hot weather, the temperature was down to 11 – 12 degrees C.

We had a great day out. The church was closed when we arrived and we lunched at the far end of the graveyard with views north. We were delighted to find it was open when we returned. It is basically a Saxon church with a Norman extension! It has been closed for 4 years for restoration. It was not the Saxon church that was showing signs of wear, but the later (!) Norman part of the building. We heard about the complicated exploratory work that had to be undertaken. It was fascinating.

Beneath the Norman church they found a vault containing 5 coffins, all named. This was resealed and re-consecrated a while ago. I saw photos of the interior. Three coffins have leather covers, hand tooled and decorated.

The Norman arches in the church are very fine.

This is a parish church, but for it’s first 800 years it was a private chapel.

The woods today were a delight. The hawthorn is fully out and perfect because there has been no rain at all.

When we reached Blyth we had ice creams on the prom, all except Al who had a chip butty. (Some people just have to be different.) It was a cold day for ice cream, but we thoroughly enjoyed them.

Tonight I’m making prints for tomorrow’s RPS Documentary Group. I haven’t used the printer for a long time and various print nozzles had clogged. I have just about got it up and running, when I would really like to go to bed! 



Today’s victims subjects are Irene and Anne E.