Last Saturday afternoon myself and The Attractions On My Pier set off for the SEASIDE, for LO! we were heading south to Bournemouth again!
We'd last been to Bournemouth just over a year ago and liked it a LOT so decided to go all over again. One of the BEST things about this plan was that it was PEASY - we didn't have to catch a pre-designated train (let alone a PLANE) in either direction, and thus could set off whenever we wanted, which is exactly what we did. The aforementioned Cushions On My Seat even UPGRADED us on the way there, which on South Western Trains means sitting in basically a Small Room, like you are in a carriage on a STEAM TRAIN. It was ace!
We stayed once again in the Holiday Inn, which was a DELIGHT, despite us having multiple issues with towels missing, windows not opening, windows not closing and so forth. This meant we had a similar number of interactions with the staff, who were all a) lovely b) Quite Young, and so it was like being helped by the Just About Grown-Up Children Of Friends. Every time one of them came to the room to MEND something I wanted to tell them a mildly inappropriate story about what their parents had been like at their age.
On our first full day we headed out to Hengistbury Head for a walk in the gorgeous sunshine. We were not the only ones to have this idea, as pretty much EVERYBODY within ten miles who had a DOG had thought the same. There were LOADS of happy dogs of ALL breeds and, sometimes, of very similar breeds in what appeared to be EITHER a family of people who also had a family of big shaggy dogs OR meet ups of owners. It was a lovely day and we ended up walking all the way back to Bournemouth Actual along the sea front. This was INCREDIBLE as it is literally Miles And Miles Of Golden Sandy Beaches like something out of an ADVERT or possibly a BEANO SUMMER SPECIAL, all kept in fantastic nick and looking lovely. It wasn't warm enough to sunbathe (although we did see someone doing exactly that, in a bikini) but I can only imagine it being wonderful in the summer.
The next day featured another, slightly shorter, stroll in the other direction along the beach, and then a go on The Bournemouth Big Wheel. As The Windows On My Observation Deck commented, this was UNLIKE The London Eye in that it got going at a noticeable, though still gentle, speed, so you really FELT like you were moving around in a big circle. We were both VERY BRAVE!
There was also some DINING involved along the way but mostly we spent our mini-break AMBLING ABOUT and just having a nice time, to such an extent that when we got home it felt like we'd been away for a whole WEEK rather than just three nights. I guess part of this is due to the fact that we'd been BEFORE, and so didn't need the one or two days at the start working things out, and also the PEASY journey meant you weren't lopping chunks of time off trying to get to AIRPORTS or whatnot, but either way it was GRATE. Who knew going on holiday in the UK could be so much fun? Would recommend and, hopefully, REPEAT!
