Beach huts of Bournemouth (200 Blips)

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A bit of a labour of love, this one, each individually shot. I envisage making another to include the boys in one of them.

An overwhelming memory for me of Bournemouth remains the quaint candy-coloured quintessentially English beach huts which impeccably line the promenade from Boscombe, through Alun Chine, Poole and beyond.

I return here year after year to visit my sister Anne-Marie and brother Joe and each time delight in the beauty of the coastline, falling abruptly into calm, secluded waters, always too cold for me to swim in, but deliciously refreshing and clear to wade in. I recall geography field trips at school to the historic local towns, and strange activities during such trips to measure pebbles along the beach to assess erosion and being left on the Isle of Purbeck with an Ordinance Survey map, walking through driving rain to get back to base singing silly, churlish girly songs.

And yet today, the weather is anything but wild. It's warm and sunny and the holidaymakers have flocked to the golden sands. I enjoy again a clotted cream icecream, locally made whilst the boys play excitedly in the water park along Boscombe Chine, the former valley which sleepily leads to the sea. Joe took them this morning for a good runaround whilst I packed and cleaned Anne-Marie's home after our stay. There's music in the air from a folk festival and I stay far longer than I should, catching a train at 5pm, the start of an inevitable lazy-Sunday 4hr train journey back to my parents' home in Essex. I hastily say bye bye to Joe for another year with tears in my eyes, then read the boys, bouncing on happiness from the day, plenty of stories until they fall into fitful sleep.

BackBlips for July and August in the UK:
23 July
24 July
31 July
1 August
5 August
6 August
7 August
9 August
10 August
11 August
(only another 35 backBlips to go...)

PS Just realised this marks 200. Thanks Blip Central!