Hello everyone! How have you been? I have been very well, I am at my dads at the moment! This week, I have done a few exciting things, but today I am going to talk about what I did yesterday!
I was set in for a relatively boring Saturday, with it being the beginning of the football season, so I was expecting my Dad to have Sky Sports on all day! I called for help on Facebook, but since it was so late minute, no one had time to come down to town with me!
Then came a surprising event; my dad said "Fancy a walk around Emsworth?" I was shocked! I, of course, accepted, and we got in the car and headed down the dual carriage way to Emsworth, a small sailing town on the South Coast. It was lovely down there, albeit a bit windy! The people were out in force and there was a lot of sailing going on!
We pulled up in the car park and set off down a little covered pathway that bordered a Nature Reserve.
It almost looked like a magical bridge into Narnia or some other fantastical place! It was so pretty, its a shame I wasn't wearing proper shoes to go tramping about in mud and through low bushes! So we carried on over the bridge, heading towards the main part of the town. I snapped a couple of pictures of the nature reserve on the way!
That was the path that lead deeper into the Nature Reserve! It really did look like a path into a fantasy land, and I was dissapointed we couldn't go that way! Next time, trousers and trainers! As we walked down the path, this black bird popped out of the bushes and flew to the path to eat a blackberry! It didn't fly off till we were really close, then watched us go past as he sat on the fence! Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of him as he was moving about too much! But I did get a good picture of the blackberries, which are starting to ripen up at the moment!
My dad tried one, but they aren't quite ripe enough yet!!
After walking down a covered pathway for a few minutes, it began to open up onto a wild field, then onto a pond, and the main road started to appear on the right! Houses came into view and we knew we were near the main part of town now!
Now, the houses in Emsworth are more than likely, very expensive!! A lot of older retired sailors live here!
Once we reached the main road, we crossed over to another big pond, one where my dad said he used to walk me round when we used to live there, when I was only 2! That's why coming here was revisiting my roots, as I used to live here at the beginning of my life, for a couple of years.
We walked all the way round the big pond, which was called 'Slipper Mill Pond'. Its huuuge, so more like a lake, but not quite! On this side of the pond, you could hear the wind whistling through the rigging of the boats moored at the marina, and it was strangely soothing, yet eerie. I can only imagine how creepy it must be at night with that noise!
There was a sleuce gate between the pond and the marina, so the pond was more than likely sea water!
The pond was full of life, from little fishes to lots of water fowl!! On this one there were seagulls, ducks, cormorants and coots!
A coot! They look like moor hens, but moor hens have red beaks and are smaller!
After the walk round the pond, we headed further into town, to the shops and heading towards the main part of the marina. There are LOADS of pubs in Emsworth. Not pubs converted into something else(though there were a couple of those) but still running pubs! It used to be an old fishermen's village, hence why so many pubs!
The first of many pubs we saw!
Having had a little walk through the high street and the town centre, we headed down to the main part of the marina where the sailing club were in full swing, dragging their boats about, dressed in a wet suit and life jackets. There was a little Life Guard charity sale going on, but by the looks of it, they were starting to pack up when we got there! There was this very loud organ playing too!
Further on, we came across a bit where you walk all along the marina and up to another pond, and it was the first sighting of swans!
There are A LOT of swans in Emsworth!! Once we walked along the marina, checking out all the boats moored there and curving round to another 'pond'. We decided to start walking round this pond too! On the other side, this house stuck out like a sore thumb, which I guessed was an old boat house, and I was right!
This pond was where I saw the most swans I've ever seen! I think it was all the cygnets grown up but not ready to fly yet, as it might of been moulting season, and swans can't fly during malting season! These were mute swans, and as you will see, there were LOTS!
A lot of ducks too! Did you know, only the female ducks quack? And during moulting season, all the ducks look the same! So some of these ducks were probably male! There was a little information bit on the wild fowl of the ponds, which me and my dad read. Its always interesting to read them!
On the other side, under one of those eye sore square buildings next to the old boat house, was this old car, looked really nice!
Once we had finished walking round and taking in the view, we headed back to the shops, to pick up a cakey for me, and just have a look to see if there were any interesting shops! We ended up heading to a green grocers, where we picked up some strawberries, blueberries and parsnips, then to this lovely old book store.
It was floor to ceiling chock full of books! And it was dark and closed in, just like the old libraries and book stores, it was so magical! It even smelled of old books, a lovely old musky smell, which, if like me, you love books, was pure bliss! I could of spent ages in that shop, perusing the shelves, but my dad wouldn't of let me hur hur hur. He picked up four Alexander Kent books and I picked up an book called 'Dance of the Assassins' by Herve Jubert. It looked like a really good read, and I will be starting it today, so I will let you know!
After the book shop, my dad declared he had spent enough money and we headed back to the car and back home. I ended my little Emsworth adventure down memory lane with a chill out in my favourite arm chair, a lovely chocolate fondant fancy and a cup of tea!
BLISS!
What did you get up to/are getting up to this weekend?
STAY BEAUTIFUL
Kitty xoxox~<3
