Too Young To Be Grumpy

Soft sand - perfect for stripping skin.


As part of a 'fitness-building regime' my wife and I are undertaking, in order to complete a 25 mile chairty cycle-ride in 4 weeks, we cycled the 12 miles to the beach (and back, of course - 24 miles in all) , with a little picnic.

It was a lovely sunny day at home, with a little nip in the air, but almost the minute we got our legs over the centre bar, the wind started to blow, and it blew all day into our faces. Whichever turn we made, it was there blowing. It really gave our legs a work-out, mind. We headed to Sandbanks, where the wind was whipping the sand up into nice little waves that would try to sandblast the skin off your face. Here we setup our picnic blanket, and chomped on our gritty, sand-infested pasties.

There were some guys in Poole Harbour doing kite surfing. In fact, I hadn't realised it was such a popular sport around here, and there must have been about 20 of them zooming around. It looked quite lethal, as the wind got up. One guy's kite went on a trip across a road, and he just couldn't stop it. The traffic pulled up as the kite lines blocked the road, and a hotel's metal fire-exit steps on the other side of the road grappled with the runaway kite.

Got nearly run over by a bus on the way home - not sure what the prat was thinking, but as I negotiated a round-about the driver looked straight at me, so I thought 'OK, he's seen me, no worries'. He accelerated and attempted to get across in front of me. I had to slam on my brakes to avoid embedding myself in the side. If only I'd got his number.. grrr..

Anyway, I'm happy to be home again, and the wind burn on my face is getting fiercer by the hour. I Feel like I've been swimming in acid.