To see the sea.

We’ve been planning a drive out to the coast for a few months now but with one thing and another we didn’t quite seem to make it. Yesterday evening all plans converged on making the trip out early today so up at stupid o’clock this morning with flasks of hot stuff, sausage buttie’s, winter wear and boots….huskies, rope, icepick etc etc 😉

It’s about a two hour drive and at this time of morning we had pretty much the roads to ourselves. When the sun did wake, darkened skies turned to cool blues with hardly a cloud in the sky…absolutely perfect.

Well, that was until a few miles out from the coast when we noticed that many of the roof tops, gardens and parked cars were covered with a heavy dusting of snow. When we arrived the blue skies were gone, the icy wind blowing off the sea had intensified and the sleet and snow began.

We sat and waited…

It got worse…

We sat and waited…

It got worse…

We sat and, as if a switch had been flicked, we were back to blue skies, sunshine and the snow clouds heading away and further inland.

Cool shapes on the sand left after the tide.

Making the most of it in the event that the snow decided to do a u-turn, we our took our stroll along the beach…and after a while, time to win a bet I had with a couple of my friends at work.

I win Rob, boy was it nippy!

 

Back on dry land, with warm soup and sandwichs we headed into town to see if anything was open. Pretty much everywhere was shut up for the winter months but we did spot a couple of the larger amusement arcades that were open for business. Remembering our visit from last year, I wondered if the Mirage Arcade still had….?

 

Woot woot, yay it does – time for a spot of retro gaming.

I’ve blogged about this multi-cade before so feel free to click on the link below for more details – If you ever spot one out in the wild, you’ve got to check them out.

https://stiggyblog.wordpress.com/2012/09/14/retro-arcade-hunt-result/

I tried out the trackball on the cabinet again on games like Liberator, Golden Tee and Missile Command and it works really well although I found it to be a little too sensitive for spinner games like Arkanoid and Breakout.

I also had a blast on Robotron and actually lasted into a few more waves this time around – maybe all that research is paying off! I finished off with a game I’ve been playing a lot of this past week on the 2600 – Gravitar. I must get this booted on MAME at some point over the weekend , such a great game.

Our fun and games over and we headed back home…..although fun and games was about to begin again! Five miles out from the coast, clunk, bang, growwwwwl, instantly my little Peugeot was transformed into something that sounded like a hot-rod Hemi Cuda. You see, my exhaust pipe had fallen off :-O

We called our breakdown cover and (thankfully) didn’t have a long wait until emergency repairs were completed and we was on our merry way again. All crappy boy racer cars on the road just couldn’t compete : -) Hear me Roar!

As cold as Hoth.

I decided to head on out into the snow this morning and along one of the local trails that runs not to far away from here. It’s not often we get a good downfall of snow so best make the most of all that picturesque scenery.

Along the old railway lines that now form part of the many nature trails.

Heading on up and looking out to the ruins of Hardwick.

 

Not to many birds about but I did spot the odd Bullfinch and Redwing darting in and out of the trees.

 

 

Brrr, bit nippy at the top, especially with bare hands on camera body so I took the opportunity to test out some of those chemical heat packs that Curstie brought me. Simply break the seal to exposure to oxygen, wait 10 minutes and play in your gloves etc. Very impressed by these, in fact about an hour later I has to take my gloves off…too hot!

 

 

Very brave souls!

One last look around with camera on timer mode…..actually, feet frozen and can’t move 🙂

Brr its as cold as Hoth up here! Back home, that last picture gave me an idea.

Echo Base look out post.

Frosty morn

Brrr, it’s a frosty one this morning and after a week of tech and server rooms, time to head out for a change of scenery and enjoy the crisp cold air.

Camera at the ready, a flask full of hot coffee and a great excuse to try out some of my new winter walking gear, I headed on up.

 

Loving what the cold air and bracing winds has done to the plateau grass.

Resting up with a cuppa and enjoying the views. The icy winds was so fierce up here I was struggling to keep my camera steady!

Couldn’t help but think that it’s all a bit Middle-Earth-esq up here this morning –  Probably helped by the fact that I ‘m walking and listening to The Lord of the Rings audio book  on my iPhone. Eek, better duck, spies of Sauron…no wait…just a few grouse 🙂

Changing audio, Eddie Vedders ‘Into the wild’ album was the perfect soundtrack as I walked on.

Ice blasted rock.

One more cuppa before heading back down. Yep, them gloves are bit girlie but fleece lined and toastie warm.

oh, go on then, another cuppa, so peaceful up here.

A great start to another year of trail walking. Oh and JT, just to add in a bit of retro to this post, was listening to some C64 remix tunes on the way down 🙂

Worth the wait.

Hopefully the start of a great beach day.