Glorious sunshine called for a trip to the beach so we headed off to our favourite and we weren’t disappointed.  Fortnum was so excited to be close to the sea again he shot off out of the back of the car and didn’t stop running for about 10 minutes.  Minus of course a comfort stop, several territory marking stops and the obligatory 50 sniffing stops.  Non stop running for a basset hound is a relative pastime!

As I headed over the hill I thought of all the times that I’ve shouted from the back of a car as a kid “I can see the sea……!”  Juvenile thoughts I know but it’s still  a wonderful feeling.

There was hardly a breeze but just enough to keep us from over heating in the winter sun.   There weren’t that many people walking either but enough people with their dogs to make the beach walk the bassets ideal place.

The thing that struck me was the amount of sea shells there were this time.  Lots and lots of clams and whelks.  I know I should probably have been foraging and taking them home but I just didn’t have my foraging gear with me today. Although there were plenty of them you’ve got to admire them their natural beauty.

There were a few whelk shells which I pocketed to remind me of today at the beach but we could probably have had a small feast if we’d been more organised.

Talking of organisation.  I was planning a bit of a basset beach portrait session but today of all days there was no discipline at all.  Everything was just far to exciting for Fortnum and Mason to be behaving themselves.  Or perhaps there was just a bit of basset operator error going on!

Here’s a happy basset though.

We had a wonderful walk.  There is something about beach walks where you can walk for a very long time without realising it.  We were out for over 1.5 hours before realising.  The fact that the short legged dogs were starting to drag their heels was a tell tale sign.

Apart from the seashells on the beach we found some distinctly unbeach like debris.  A mobile phone.  Although we looked around we couldn’t see anyone searching for it.  We did debate whether it was better to just put it on one of the posts by the access to the beach or just take it home in the hope that we could get the local Telecom shop to reunite it with it’s owner.  We decided on the later.  Just as we were heading home the phone rang and we were able to reassure the owner that her phone was safe and sound.  We’ll post it back to her tomorrow. I hope that if I ever lose my phone someone will do the same thing for me.

All in all it was a lovely trip out the beach.  It would have been so easy to stay at home doing chores but I’m pleased we played hooky instead.  I’m sure you can see why.