Girl Rona in Teignmouth and Dartmoor -3 deg c.

This is the over turned fishing boat Girl Rona, She was going into Teignmouth Harbour at the beginning of the week, when a freak wave hit and over turned the boat onto a sandbank. 

Luckily all her crew of five were rescued by the Teignmouth Life Boat. Our present Government are cutting back on Coast guard stations. Shortsighted people !

The seagulls are still feasting on Girl Rona's fish catch.

She also has diesel on board that might be leaking, so we took Freya  further down the coast for her beach walk.
Thursday, and the fishing boat is still there, although recovery should be soon. We see this little fishing boat so often coming in and out of the Teign estuary, it's such a shame to see her so helpless.The main thing, the crew are all safe.

The sea gulls are probably still feeding, the boat had a full catch.

Freya had her beach walk

and daily dig.

It was so cold on the beach we decided to take Freya through the nature reserve on the other side of the beach wall. At least it was out of the wind.

All the years we have been walking there, we have never seen a pony, Although there are signs everywhere, about keeping your dog on a lead because of the ponies. We joke about the pony myth of Dawlish Warren Nature Reserve.

 It's true, a pony or two keeping down the grass. Maybe they are only there in the Winter.

Freya loved them.......... dogs and ponies don't go together in nature, so we thought it would be a good idea for Freya to get used to ponies properly. 

Minus 3 deg c. this morning on Dartmoor at 11.a.m., tonight it is going to be minus 10 deg c. Not so bad really when other parts of Europe have lower temperatures tonight. We are balmy and warm by comparison.

Dartmoor has such stunning beauty, we found a haven down by the old quarry at Haytor. Wind free, but still -3 deg c.

 Frozen water.

Even on the side of the quarry.

 Part one of Dartmoor views......

It might be cold up there tonight, but it's warm inside Soggibottom Cottage. The best place to view Dartmoor when it's cold is from this very spot, by the warmth of a fire looking at photo's. besides, it has taken us all evening to warm up. Tomorrow is going to be a quiet  WARM day.

We still have Widecome in the moor photo's yet............
Freya can be found over at Catflap Cavalier, pony whispering ?
Freya can dream on...........
Although we have some amazing views of Dartmoor

They will keep.........

Mainly dry

No snow here at Soggibottom cottage.

Although there is snow on Dartmoor tonight.

Here, we are all in hibernation.

Some are, some aren't !

Last few days

My friend Mary at Emmary Bears is closing her on line bear supply ordering site. Better get in there quick to pick up some great bargains. There are other bargains, not all about teddy bears. But for all those budding bear makers out there, I know Mary has some great Ted patterns.

The Cottage Ted who always sits in the window was made from mohair from Emmary Bears.
Mary and I have known each other for over ten years, doesn't time fly ?

The Ted in the cottage window accompanying Alice's Wedding Bear, also made from Emmary Bear supplies.
Just like to say to my dear friend Mary, I for one will miss you terribly. 

Mary asked if she could borrow this photo of Harlyn Bay for the EMMARY BEAR NEWSLETTER.
I had such a sweet thank you at the start of the newsletter, Mary, your very welcome.
Good luck in your new venture.

There really are some great bargains to be had over at Emmary Bears, if you click the Soggibottom Bear's photo on the side bar you can go straight to them.


As always you can see Freya on her blog Catflap Cavalier, she is still messing around in rock pools on Harlyn Bay, but if the weather holds, tomorrow she is out and about.

Seals in Harlyn Bay - January - 2012

212 photo's taken on Thursday, this is the best photo from the day.

Or maybe this one ?  Waves crashing onto the beach in the next bay.

 It was taken from this spot, looking towards the next village along the coast. There must be a knack to taking long shots with our new camera.  Keeping the camera still would probably help. But from this distance I could hardly see the next bay unless I looked through the camera lens anyway. It was a case of hit or miss photography on Thursday.

A slight detour from our usual beach walking route, found us on the Atlantic side of  Cornwall.
Cornish lanes in August are busy but wonderfully empty in January.

An almost empty beach too. The sun was shining, Freya danced around in circles on the sand, it could have been the height of Summer. In reality is was a chilling 2 deg c.

It looks calm enough from here.

If you could find shelter from the wind it wasn't that bad. Freya managed to find another  rock pool she misjudged and had to swim through.
. Catflap Cavalier

Surfers weren't ' the only ones to enjoy themselves.

Seals were playing among the waves. (Photo of seals along the British Coast)
Try as I might, the seals eluded me. 212 camera clicks and no seals photo's of my own to show you.

Tried hard, failed miserably. As they say, you can't win them all.

We had a great day out, 

but, it was good to get home and dry off properly.

Cold weather and the possibility of snow heading our way, we might have to put beach walks on hold for a few days Freya.
As always you are very welcome to visit Freya and her rock pooling adventures over at The Catflap Cavalier,

Lots of love to "Ploy", our post crossing friend :-) x x x

Charmouth beach in January 2012

Just because it's a dull day, doesn't mean it's an excuse not to get some exercise outside.

The last time we went to Charmouth beach was way back in the Summer last year, a week before we had Freya. We had taken Jake fossil hunting, one of our favourite pastimes. Where better to take our eight year old grandson. Sand, sea and what ever history he could find under his feet. He loves dinosaurs
The Jurassic Coast line stretches as far as your eye can see from this point on the beach. 

It's surprising what has been found along the coastline. Mary Anning was 12 years old when she found an Ichthyosaur with her older brother in 1811.

It's said that she braved storms and landslides for her life time love of fossil hunting.

I'm sure she also stood and viewed Lyme Bay from here. Mary Anning was thought to have inspired the tongue Twister, she sells sea shells by the sea shore.

It's also a great dog walking spot, or in Freya's case swimming spot when she daintily went through what she thought was a paddling pool,  turned out to be a mini swimming pool. Never think your dog can't swim !

On this beach you don't have to hunt for fossils, they are right under your feet.

This might look like a very uninteresting object to you and me.

But to this guy, (Mary Anning of our day), it looks promising.

As he worked he talked, and believe me, we kept him talking. He knew exactly what he was looking for.

Although I think he was getting impatient trying to prise out what ever it was that MIGHT be there.

Fools gold. Iron Pyrites.

Heavier utensils were brought from the bag.

Positioned.

Then given a hard whack with a sledge hammer. Not sure if Mary Anning would have done quite the same thing.

Not to disappoint you. Beach art.The interesting find held nothing that was very interesting to show you..

Art ?
Or maybe someone was getting bored waiting for their other half to whack hard mud. I'm sure there is a word for the layer that the fossils are found in.. I haven't a clue what it is.

Another interesting piece that someone had already broken to look inside.

I post about this beach so many times.
Although we aren't dedicated fossil hunters, we enjoy the scenery. Every time we visit this beach, the cliff face looks different. Eroding tides wash it away, bringing the past of the Jurassic Period of history open to everyone. Especially Jake.  Last year part of the cliff had fallen down, at high tide, the beach was blocked. Now the blocked beach has been washed away by the sea. With it, who knows what fossils from our past.
I'm sure there are so many fossil hunters out there.

We can't all have great finds.

For those that never know what to look for this is the shop right on the beach. Filled with history.

Or you can head for home.

With your finds.
Many thanks to our Mary Anning of 2012 for our fools gold.

If you don't find anything along Charmouth Beach, you will just have to keep digging.

Freya is, as always on her own blog. Catflap Cavalier.