Just walking in the rain, getting soaking wet

Well I'm getting towards the end of the holiday now, on the Thursday,we had decided we would go over to Brownsea Island, and do some walking. Husband's toe was a little less  tender. Up until we departed, no one had been from the council, but we didn't have to be there. We took cameras, and walking boots, I had forgotten to take a day pack, so took my small bag. Husband was adamant it wasn't going to rain, so I chanced leaving my waterproof behind. It was a bit cloudy that day and quite windy. I don't know what husband was thinking of, but he refused to accept my directions to Studland,and set off on a convoluted route. At one point we were quite high up,and passed a viewpoint which gave wonderful views over Poole harbour, but it was spotted too late for him to stop. Eventually we reached Studland and Shell Bay, where we could park free.
We changed into our walking boots,and set off for the ferry. It wasn't too long coming, as we waited we watched the waves being whipped up by the wind, and the yachts almost bending over. Once on Board there was no one to take our money, but at the other end we found a kiosk and got return tickets.
We found the place for tickets for Brownsea, and bought them. The ferry arrived quickly and we boarded. As we sat waiting for departure time I felt a tad queasy as it was rocking from side to side. However once the boat started I felt fine. We were at Brownsea in minutes,and disembarked, clutching our N T cards to ensure free admission.

this was our favourite beach when we stayed in Boscombe, years ago

wind whipping up the waves

Arrival of the ferry

We went into the  NT shop, and fed up with juggling camera, bag and bottle of water, I decided it would be easier to buy a small pack, then we headed for the cafe, I had a lovely quiche and salad, but can't remember what husband had. We shared a cup of wedges, but they were not as hot as they could have been and the person in the queue behind us was demanding fresh ones.
Lunch over, we set off for the visitor centre, and a lady from N T, chatted to us and I asked what the likelihood of seeing a red squirrel was. She didn't sound too hopeful, said it was the wrong time of day,etc, but who knows. She told us the best way to go around the island, and said if we got tired and she was passing 'in the buggy' we could ask for a lift. We went round the visitor centre, saw lots of peacocks,and some ordinary hens strutting around outside.
Then we set off up the path to visit the various viewpoints. A couple of times I sent up silent prayers, 'Lord, would you please let us see a red squirrel?' We found all of the viewpoints, took lots of photos, visited the Scout camping area, the Baden Powell stone, then just as I was giving up hope, there he was, sitting on a pile of logs, I grabbed husband's arm and hissed at him to look. Before we could even focus our cameras, he was off at speed, a flash of red fur and bushy tail, up over the logs and straight up into a Scots pine.

So you'll have to take my word for it. We found the ruined village, not much to see there, then made our way down a path which led to a small beach, possibly the only time I really went on a beach in the whole two weeks.

yacht in the wind

Studland and the old Harrys seen from Brownsea

Another island seen from viewpoint

The ferry seen from viewpoint

One of the many peacocks we saw

Scout camp area

Baden Powell stone

Poloe from Brownsea beach

Driftwood on the Beach

Feeling a little bit tired we set off, down the main road back to the harbour area, exchanging views on the likelihood of rain, from the ever darkening sky, with a fellow walker. About a quarter of the way along, I felt a drop of rain, suddenly, the heavens opened, there was a torrential downpour, we didn't see much point in sheltering under trees, just dumped the cameras in my new pack, and strode out for our destination. It was pretty much like the downpour we experienced a couple of summers ago in Sennen, only this time we weren't dressed for it, Eventually, like two drowned rats we made it to the N T shop, there had been no sign of the lady in the buggy.
The assistant felt sorry for us and shared her chocolates with us, and seemed sorry that they didn't sell towels. Others came into the shop, most of whom had some sort of wetwear on, but they didn't seem to have fared much better. On visiting the ladies room, I was tempted to use the hand dryer as a hairdryer, but I couldn't bend down that far.
Eventually the ferry for Sandbanks arrived, at least we were undercover. Then the Studland chain ferry arrived and we boarded. The windows were all open and it was freezing. Husband sympathised with a chap clad only in a thin shirt and trousers. Although the chap seemed dressed respectably enough, there was something of a wild look in his eyes, and he was giving me odd looks. There was a certain slightly unkempt look about him. He really made me feel uneasy, so when we disembarked, and husband unintentionally strode off without me, I kept my distance. As we changed out of our boots, the wild looking chap was circling the car park. I was hoping he wouldn't ask us for a lift, so kept my head down. Suddenly he disappeared down the path to the beach, of all places. It wasn't beach weather.
As we drove off husband confessed he had been a little bit unsettled too. We drove back, car heater on and I made sure he took the quick route back to Swanage.
Back at the bungalow we got out of our wet things, had hot drinks, put the central heating on, and sat in our dressing gowns till it was time to get dressed for our meal out. This time, we managed to park at the small car park nearer to the restaurant, the extended car park was almost ready, and the day before the contractors had said if stuck we could use one of the road spaces, as long as we paid. We were both tempted by the scallops again, he had goujons of plaice, I had the bream, then this time I had the tiramisu, and he had an Italian cheesecake. We had coffee, then were glad we didn't have to walk too far to the car.
When we had first arrived back from Brownsea, we had been unable to tell whether the wasps' nest had been dealt with, as it was still there. however on close inspection, I saw a white powder on both the nest and the garage,and one or two very sick looking wasps lying around.
On the Friday, the weather didn't start off too good. It was cloudy and windy, I had been trying to get as much washing done as possible, so that we didn't have too many dirty clothes to take home with us. As we went into town it began to rain, but soon stopped. we wandered around looking for gifts to bring back for the family and Grandchildren. Eventually I chose,and then we met up and had lunch at the little outdoor cafe. It had turned into a very pleasant day. We wandered some more, then sat for a while, as we sat two of the red arrows put in a couple of appearances over the bay. The sun was hot but it was still windy, and was perfect clothes drying weather. Eventually we caught the Number 5 back to the bungalow for the last time. We started our packing and then after dinner, drove out to a place called Kingston, which actually looks down on Corfe Castle. Eventually we found somewhere to stop, and got some pretty decent sunset pictures.

clouds

Corfe  Castle,and Poole harbour at sunset

Next morning we were up early, after breakfast I began packing food, emptying the contents of the fridge freezer, packing it all into our large coolbag. We collected our stuff together, tidied, I cleaned the bath, washbasin and toilet, then the small second loo, made sure everything was back in its place and the cooker and work surfaces clean, husband started packing up the car, and by 10.00 am I had done the final room check, and deposited the front door key back in its keybox.
The journey home was  a little slow at first. The satnav did odd little diversions. We stopped on the M3 for lunch, there were parts if the journey that were slow due to congestion, and parts when it rained heavily. We arrived home at around 2.30, unpacked the car, picked up the piles of mail, deleted the 'junk messages' from the answering machine, informed family we were home, then I did the Sainsbury's run, began picking the fruit which was dragging the canes down. Son in Law had watered a couple of times, for which we were grateful, but there had been more rain at home than we had had. The garden was in reasonable shape, nothing had died, but the lawn was a tad long.
Sunday was spent in church, resting and trying to tidy up odd bits and pieces. Little did we know what was in store for us in the week to come.