Practising for full retirement

We are having a beautiful, if cold spell of weather and Rod has 2 days off work to give us a long weekend together.  As I am so organised for Christmas (don't you just hate me?) we have tried to make the best of the time and get out and about.  On Saturday we went for a walk at Calshot which sits at the end of Southampton Water and looks out over the Solent.  We walked up through a soggy field past Fawley Power Station that is soon to close.

and watched a huge container ship pass into Southampton Water and dwarf all the buildings at the end of Calshot Spit.  

The walk back was along the water's edge so we could look across the very tranquil water to the Isle of Wight.  Lucy loved eyeing up the birds but most were just out of her reach.

Back at the car we sat like two old dears (practising for full retirement) and had a picnic in the sun.

Today we ventured further afield and went to Highcliffe in Dorset.  I have not been there since I was a child as, normally, we go to Mudeford when we go down that way.  We parked at Highcliffe Castle - a magnificent building built mainly between 1831 and 1836 as a realisation of one man's fantasy.  He was Lord Stuart de Rothesay, a distinguished diplomat who had known and loved the cliff-top site overlooking Christchurch Bay since he was a boy.

We walked down through woods and a small nature reserve to the beach - spotting a jay, robins and grey wagtails on the way. The beach was busy with other dog walkers enjoying the fresh air and sun and we even met a Lucy look-a-like.   The cliff is made of sandstone that is clearly eroding away and nothing like as spectacular as the backdrop to the beaches we have visited in Devon and Wales.

The day was rounded off with a visit to the Castle tea rooms for a light snack- very nice it was too.