Mudeford 2016
I went on holiday to Mudeford, Christchurch (near Bournemouth) for two weeks and if you follow me on Snapchat you may already have an idea as to what I got up to each day of my holiday as I spent the majority of my 4G sending you updates! I made a kind of diary entry every day so, like last year, I could write a blog post for you lot. Hope you enjoy! Have you been away anywhere recently or are you planning to go anywhere? Let me know in the comments down below!
Day One
So today
was pretty much just 5+ hours of travelling; we left Yorkshire at 10:30am and
arrived in Mudeford at approximately 4:30pm. Yawn! However, the arduous journey
is well worth it; as soon as we start to see signs for Bournemouth, the excitement
starts to build rapidly. Once we finally arrived we didn’t really get much done
to be honest, we sat for 45 minutes desperately trying to find some WiFi to
connect to. Yes we really are that sad, haha! After coming to the realisation
that this was going to be a 4G type of holiday… we just went food shopping,
bought some fish and chips (no fish for me, mind!) for tea and then took a
short walk from the house along Mudeford Quay. Nothing much to write home about
yet, apart from the stunning sunset we watched over the harbour. We just wanted
a short walk to stretch our legs after being in the car all day and officially
start the holiday tomorrow! (So happy! Haha!)
Today we
had a leisurely start to the day (too leisurely according to some!) and decided
to head towards Steamer Point to walk through the woods to Highcliffe Castle,
also known as: Emma’s dream wedding venue. Upon arrival we (obviously) went
straight to the delightful, yet thieving café, which charges almost £3 per cup
of tea… Nevertheless, it’s a nice place for a morning coffee break. After
wandering through the grounds for a short while, we headed back through the
woods (Steamer Point Nature Reserve) for lunch. Our first thoughts were that it
may become a beach afternoon, however we were sorely mistaken as it began to
cool down and cloud over quite a bit while we were eating our picnic style lunch.
Fortunately it did start to brighten up again so we walked alongside Avon Beach
and towards the Quay. On the other side of the Quay, there was an arts and
craft event with stalls selling things ranging from carved wooden signs to
soaps, and childlike paintings of beach huts which were actually quite effective, to paintings of cows photobombing famous
local scenery.
As
predicted yesterday, today was not the best day weather-wise! Needless to say,
it was fine enough for a walk along Stanpit Marsh. We haven’t walked along
there in years and it took a big of figuring out where to go as there are a
number of different paths which all loop round to different places, very much
like a rabbit warren! We also ended up getting stuck behind a bird watching
walking tour thing which was full of slow walking people who took up the entire
path. Not ideal. We wanted to avoid the path that ended up in Christchurch so
we aimed for the Nature Reserve instead. Well… this is where it went slightly
downhill for me! Walking along a kind of path, alongside the river and the boat
we could see a group of horses on the path in front of us. Whilst this didn’t
even slightly bother anyone else except me; I’m not a huge fan of any animals
to be honest let alone those that stand taller than I do! Whilst everyone
managed to walk past perfectly fine, I ended up getting within an arms-length
of them and being physically unable to move. Despite realising that I was in fact
stood in a huge pile of horse crap, I couldn’t bring myself to move my legs.
Needless to say, I ended up hyperventilating and shaking, all whilst being
stuck to the spot. Fantastic. After one horse moved slightly to make a wider
gap in the path, I had to walk between the two and once I had stopped
hyperventilating we realised we had gone the wrong way. So, yes that meant we
had to walk back the way we had just come, past the bloody horses again! Apart
from that slightly hiccup, it was a nice rural walk before the rain came! 
After
coming back early and staying in the house for the rest of the afternoon I
decided that despite the torrential rain, I wanted to head towards Mudeford
Quay for a walk in the rain. So I put on my old trainers, leggings and cagoule
and off I went. As bizarre as it sounds, I love walking in the rain and the
beach and quay was empty so it was really relaxing! On the way back, two
runners went past me and I guess kind of motivated me to give it a try again
now my Achilles seemed to have settled down. I was pleased to discover that I
can still run for short distances mixed with walking and my foot was absolutely
fine! I was also very conscious of the fact that the faster I got home, the
sooner I could pee! (Damn rain and sea, haha!). The only issue was trying to
detangle my hair afterwards- ouch!
Whilst it wasn’t
pouring with torrential rain, it was on a par with yesterday; wet and windy.
Therefore, Christchurch town centre seemed the only reasonable option, with not
much else to do on a day like today. Nothing exciting really, I only went into
Boots to buy a hair conditioning treatment. We came back home for lunch before
driving out to Milford-On-Sea again for a longer walk towards but not to Hurst
Castle. It was incredibly windy and was bloody hard work walking back, uphill
but we made it and ended up getting a New Forest ice cream to eat in the car
(as everyone else in the car park was). In the evening we ended up just having
a short walk along the top at Friar’s Cliff, desperately trying to find WiFi (and
failing) to connect to, because the house has none. Marvellous. Not much else
to say really, I didn’t do much vlogging either.
So today
was pretty much just 5+ hours of travelling; we left Yorkshire at 10:30am and
arrived in Mudeford at approximately 4:30pm. Yawn! However, the arduous journey
is well worth it; as soon as we start to see signs for Bournemouth, the excitement
starts to build rapidly. Once we finally arrived we didn’t really get much done
to be honest, we sat for 45 minutes desperately trying to find some WiFi to
connect to. Yes we really are that sad, haha! After coming to the realisation
that this was going to be a 4G type of holiday… we just went food shopping,
bought some fish and chips (no fish for me, mind!) for tea and then took a
short walk from the house along Mudeford Quay. Nothing much to write home about
yet, apart from the stunning sunset we watched over the harbour. We just wanted
a short walk to stretch our legs after being in the car all day and officially
start the holiday tomorrow! (So happy! Haha!)
Day Two
Today we
had a leisurely start to the day (too leisurely according to some!) and decided
to head towards Steamer Point to walk through the woods to Highcliffe Castle,
also known as: Emma’s dream wedding venue. Upon arrival we (obviously) went
straight to the delightful, yet thieving café, which charges almost £3 per cup
of tea… Nevertheless, it’s a nice place for a morning coffee break. After
wandering through the grounds for a short while, we headed back through the
woods (Steamer Point Nature Reserve) for lunch. Our first thoughts were that it
may become a beach afternoon, however we were sorely mistaken as it began to
cool down and cloud over quite a bit while we were eating our picnic style lunch.
Fortunately it did start to brighten up again so we walked alongside Avon Beach
and towards the Quay. On the other side of the Quay, there was an arts and
craft event with stalls selling things ranging from carved wooden signs to
soaps, and childlike paintings of beach huts which were actually quite effective, to paintings of cows photobombing famous
local scenery.
In the
evening, it was a windy, but lovely end to the day as we walked along the top
at Milford-On-Sea. There were some gorgeous views over towards Boscombe and
Bournemouth which were silhouettes in the low sun which was beginning to set.
Unfortunately, however, when we looked out towards the Isle of Wight, it was
misty and cloudy which apparently means that the next day it will be a terrible
day here in Mudeford. Marvellous.
Day Three
As
predicted yesterday, today was not the best day weather-wise! Needless to say,
it was fine enough for a walk along Stanpit Marsh. We haven’t walked along
there in years and it took a big of figuring out where to go as there are a
number of different paths which all loop round to different places, very much
like a rabbit warren! We also ended up getting stuck behind a bird watching
walking tour thing which was full of slow walking people who took up the entire
path. Not ideal. We wanted to avoid the path that ended up in Christchurch so
we aimed for the Nature Reserve instead. Well… this is where it went slightly
downhill for me! Walking along a kind of path, alongside the river and the boat
we could see a group of horses on the path in front of us. Whilst this didn’t
even slightly bother anyone else except me; I’m not a huge fan of any animals
to be honest let alone those that stand taller than I do! Whilst everyone
managed to walk past perfectly fine, I ended up getting within an arms-length
of them and being physically unable to move. Despite realising that I was in fact
stood in a huge pile of horse crap, I couldn’t bring myself to move my legs.
Needless to say, I ended up hyperventilating and shaking, all whilst being
stuck to the spot. Fantastic. After one horse moved slightly to make a wider
gap in the path, I had to walk between the two and once I had stopped
hyperventilating we realised we had gone the wrong way. So, yes that meant we
had to walk back the way we had just come, past the bloody horses again! Apart
from that slightly hiccup, it was a nice rural walk before the rain came! 
After
coming back early and staying in the house for the rest of the afternoon I
decided that despite the torrential rain, I wanted to head towards Mudeford
Quay for a walk in the rain. So I put on my old trainers, leggings and cagoule
and off I went. As bizarre as it sounds, I love walking in the rain and the
beach and quay was empty so it was really relaxing! On the way back, two
runners went past me and I guess kind of motivated me to give it a try again
now my Achilles seemed to have settled down. I was pleased to discover that I
can still run for short distances mixed with walking and my foot was absolutely
fine! I was also very conscious of the fact that the faster I got home, the
sooner I could pee! (Damn rain and sea, haha!). The only issue was trying to
detangle my hair afterwards- ouch!
Day Four
Whilst it wasn’t
pouring with torrential rain, it was on a par with yesterday; wet and windy.
Therefore, Christchurch town centre seemed the only reasonable option, with not
much else to do on a day like today. Nothing exciting really, I only went into
Boots to buy a hair conditioning treatment. We came back home for lunch before
driving out to Milford-On-Sea again for a longer walk towards but not to Hurst
Castle. It was incredibly windy and was bloody hard work walking back, uphill
but we made it and ended up getting a New Forest ice cream to eat in the car
(as everyone else in the car park was). In the evening we ended up just having
a short walk along the top at Friar’s Cliff, desperately trying to find WiFi (and
failing) to connect to, because the house has none. Marvellous. Not much else
to say really, I didn’t do much vlogging either.
Day Five
Today was a much nicer day, so after having a drink at Sainbury's in the morning (to steal their free WiFi..), we drove to Hengistbury Head and did the entire loop walk; stopping on the top to admire the views. An ice cream was most definitely deserved afterwards! For our evening walk we went to Boscombe and walked along the front and the pier. Like at Hengistbury Head, it was insanely windy and the sand from the beach was being picked up and whipped against our legs in the 30mph wind. Good for exfoliation though right? I got quite emotional being back there and near to Bournemouth, as I can quite simply see myself living there, but thanks to a variety of reasons (ugh!) I'm not where I belong right now. To top it off, on our return I was uploading my vlog stuff to my laptop and managed to bloody delete an entire day's worth of vlog material and pictures. Only myself to blame but gutted!
Day Six
Studland was on the cards for today, so off we went in the car, driving through Bournemouth, Poole, Wareham and Corfe, all the way to Studland Beach. It took just over an hour to get there but was worth it; so many memories came flooding back from my childhood. The sun was out and whilst there was a cool breeze, it was perfectly pleasant and felt warmer as the day went on. We walked through the sand dunes and eventually dropped down to the beach. Watching Condor head out towards France from Poole Harbour, brought back memories of the enormous waves that used to follow the arrival/departure of the ferry. There was also a bizarre exercise being undertaken by a plane (possibly RAF?) which was repeatedly circling the bay, before dropping parachutes and crates into the sea to be collected by a small dinghy. We're still not entirely sure what this was all about! After eating out for tea, Christchurch was the location of choice for our evening stroll. Just walking through the harbour, alongside the river and looping back round.
Day Seven
We’d
already pretty much decided yesterday that today we drive to Lepe Country Park
in the New Forest. It started off a bit cloudy but as the day went on, the sun
really began to show itself and whilst there was still a cool breeze, making it
feel cooler, I definitely got slightly sunburnt! We walked alongside the sea,
looking out towards the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth, watching the ships coming
in and out. I have to be honest though, whilst it is a nice walk along the
shingly, rocky terrain, it was so
busy! What peeved me most as well was the amount of dogs running around and
yapping away, (they appear to have a love for tiny, irritating dogs down here…)
meaning it wasn’t quite the relaxing walk I had hoped for. Needless to say, it
was a reasonable walk and the sun was out, so all was well. The evening walk
tonight was slightly different; we headed out later, towards Boscombe to watch
the Bournemouth Friday night firework displays on the Pier. It would’ve been
nice to have been slightly closer, in Bournemouth itself, yet it was still a
good show and we had a pretty good view, being stood on Boscombe Pier, directly
opposite. Although I never doubted it, my love my Bournemouth hasn’t died or
diminished in any way, shape or form. :)
Day Eight
Definitely a beach day today! We walked up to Highcliffe Castle in the morning for a drink, then back down to Steamer Point for lunch before ambling down to the beach. Whilst I desperately wanted to go in the sea, I had the usual hour long debate with myself whether to make that dreaded walk down to the sea in my bikini or not. Eventually, mind over matter, I counted to 50, then made myself go in and I'm glad I did because my God, it felt nicer in the sea than on the beach! The only issue was that everytime a wave came, my bikini bottoms (which are slightly on the bigger side) kept almost falling down! Oops! Apart from that, a decent day! However, I'm now suffering the consequences because despite wearing factor 20spf, I still managed to burn! I currently have a right thigh that could fry an egg. The top at Boscombe was on the agenda again for tonight, just ambling along the cliff top, towards Bournemouth and back.
Day Nine
Needless
to say, after a beach day yesterday I was burnt to a cinder this morning. Each
of my limbs are bright red and incredibly sore and sensitive. Pale people
problems for sure! We spent the morning pretty chilled out, catching up with
all the swimming in Rio that happened at 3 in the morning! Then, after lunch we
walked down to the Quay to the RNLI Mudeford Lifeboat day. It was a pretty
decent day again but I stayed as covered as I could with layers of Factor 20
slapped on! As usual, there was a raft race in which locals build their own
rafts to race in with a variety of themes. The Coastguard helicopter flew in to
do a display with the lifeboat, chucking people in the sea, rescuing them, etc.
However the first few attempts at lowering a man from the helicopter into the
boat were quite simply a disaster! With three failed attempts it appeared that the
helicopter had given up and buggered off back towards the Isle of Wight. Then a
second coastguard helicopter appeared from elsewhere and this time, perfectly
completed the display (no-one really cared at this point!). Whilst this was all
happening further out in the sea, a bunch of sailing boats were heading towards
the Quay which was part of some kind of 3 day competition. It was all pretty
exciting, watching them weave in and around each other, whilst ducking to avoid
being whacked round the head with the sail. By 4pm I was starting to get bored,
waiting around for an air display and to be honest, it wasn’t really worth the
wait in my opinion. Whilst I don’t like jets, they do bloody good air displays.
However this time it was a little biplane which did a few loop the loops and
randomly spurted smoke every so often. A bit of a swizz to be honest with you! We
stuck around Mudeford again in the evening, walking along Avon Beach and the
bottom of Steamer Point and back up to Friar’s Cliff.
Day Ten
Day Eleven
Despite
staying up until 3am last night to watch the swimming in Rio, I stayed in
today, catching up on other swimming events I did miss. I only really ventured
out the house to go to the local shop for a magazine… However in the evening I
did express interest in going out, as we were planning to go to Bournemouth
seafront. Yas Yas Yas!! We went a bit earlier to the lights weren’t on yet but
we wandered through and back down the lower gardens. The balloon had recently
been grounded due to a fault and I have to say, the gardens just aren’t the
same without it! Almost as a force of habit, we ended up in the amusements on
the pier, wasting pound coins to play on the 2p machines. Although I was bloody
well peeved as I went to get some more 2ps from the change machine and some
girls stole my machine and won a lolly I’d been close to getting. Thieving
lurkers. Walking along the pier, with the sun setting over the city, it really
is a tremendous sight. Some people can’t appreciate what I find attractive
about the city at the sea, but it’s just the contrast between this beautiful
beach and green cliffs against the backdrop of a plethora of buildings ranging
in size, shape and colour. It’s so busy and bustling on the front and everyone
seems in such a good mood (probably due to the weed you can often smell as you
walk through the gardens!).
Day Twelve
We set off
to Poole today, aiming towards the Quay/harbour. What first greeted us was the
Sunseeker production factory, in which a few yachts were out in the harbour for
us to see. One was absolutely bloody ginormous; not really what I’d call a
yacht… more like a cruise ship…Damn rich people. Poole always makes me feel so
poor, haha! We got a city cruises ferry that toured right round the harbour,
taking us past sandbanks, Brownsea Island and a variety of other islands which
I can’t remember the names of. My bad. After the ferry ride we literally just
walked along the front for a while before eventually heading back and finishing
the day off with some good old fish and chips! (Although again, obviously no
fish for me!) We chose to stay in again this evening as it wasn’t a thrilling
night to be honest.
Day Thirteen
After driving a lot yesterday, we wanted to stay reasonably local so we aimed for KeyHaven; it's good or a long walk next to the sea and you're kind of walking in the middle of the solent. It was pretty windy but nice and warm so that was fine! I managed to power on in front (or normal walking for me...), leaving them with the car keys, meaning I couldn't get my lunch and had to sit and wait while they ambled slowly back. Gutted. I was starving.
As the day went on, we stayed round the KeyHaven area, I started to get a headache which seemed to get gradually worse, to the point where I was sat in the back of the car with a jacket over my head. Thankfully, ibuprofen kicked in and it started to clear. However, as I was starting to feel much better, we got home and when we were getting out of the car, we looked up to see a massive 4 engine plane going slowly overhead, less than 5 miles up. You could practically see the people in the windows! God knows why it was so low but it was low enough to make me stand at the back of the car, gagging... (Anyone who knows me, knows I have a bizarre phobia of planes and the turbine engine thingys, making me get butterflies in my stomach and start gagging at the sight of them. It's like some weird-ass Clockwork Orange shit...
In the evening we drove into Christchurch and unfortunately there was a large and loud fair on the green, but I got some candy floss out of it so not all bad. We had a nice quiet walk through the Churchyard and then back towards the Harbour.
Day Fourteen
The final day! :( Whilst I'm sad to be leaving, it feels good to be going home (if not simply for unlimited WiFi!) Coming for two weeks feels a lot better because you get settled in and it starts to feel more like home; there's no rushing around trying to do everything and fit everything in.
Today we walked to Highcliffe through the nature reserve, had a drink then ambled back to Steamer Point to have lunch before sitting in the sun. As per usual, I got bored so headed down to the bottom and towards Avon Beach and the Quay where I picked up a final stick of rock and some postcards and stuff for scrapbooking. At about 3pm we came back to the house to pack up the rest of the stuff and then after tea we went to the Quay and Friar's Cliff for the last time (as we do every year!). It all got a bit exciting when the RNLI Lifeboat was scrambled at high speed and the coastguard van appeared on the sandbanks across from the Quay. Needless to say, after ages waiting and watching, we think a boat just lost power so they were towing it back in. Yawn. We stayed out until it got dark then headed back to the house. Needless to say, I had a slight panic at the end of the holiday as when we got back in I started to lose vision and things were flickering around, which I now know to be migraine type symptoms. Thankfully it didn't really come to much, just a dull head. Clearly it was all the excitement of the past two weeks coming to a head. Literally!
Now back to the reality of searching for graduate jobs in tourism. Hey Bournemouth tourist board, you got anything? ;)
Also, S/O to my parents for allowing me to come along free of charge. Not really like they had a choice! ;)
The Flawed Blonde. xoxo
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