Mablethorpe

P has had the week off so we made the most of the pretty good weather and set off through the East side of the Lincolnshire Wolds (we even went up a hill!) towards Mablethorpe on the coast. Lovely expanse of soft sand, but I'll get to that in a mo. First we went to look around the Seal Sanctuary there. Not just a rescue centre for stranded seals (and other animals and birds) but a brilliant walk through tunnel of the history of Lincolnshire, how it was once near the Equator before the continents all drifted apart, about the dinosaurs and how they (probably) became extinct. Brilliant. I've gone over history like this with Katie and Ben before but to bored faces. The way this had been presented with short, interesting and easily digested snippets of information with exhibits made it a learning experience for us all. We enjoyed seeing the seals and all the other rescued birds. I particularly liked the Gannets and the owls (as we have barn and tawny owls where we live), and one keeper in particular was very happy to pass on information on all the different species.

Most of the birds and animals were enjoying a mid morning nap.


Gannets

Lunch was on the beach with a gentle wind blowing sand into our sandwiches, crisps, fruit, drinks etc., etc., but then it wouldn't be a beach picnic without it! Apart from a smattering of people and a small school party, we had a large expanse of beach to ourselves. Enjoyed wandering out to the water's edge and investigating where the sand was soft and where it was hard. We also found brittle black rocks everywhere which Ben and I initially thought to be lava, but I'm not so sure now.

Anyway, it didn't take long before the rain came down, so we headed off home through a lovely village called Alford which we are definitely going to go back to and explore. We decided to find a donkey sanctuary that was signposted from Alford as P adores donkeys. We were lead through many a winding road, for a number of miles before finding the placed closed!