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After a leisurely morning and a lunch of plentiful salad and cold meats left over from yesterday, Jackie, Ian, Becky, Matthew and I drove to the Beachcomber at Barton on Sea for coffee.
The cafe was very full and the day mild enough for people to remain outside, either in the garden
or seated on the clifftop within sight of the Isle of Wight.
More energetic groups, boys, and dogs exercised along the shore.
After coffee the others took Scooby further along the clifftop, whilst Jackie and I went driveabout.
Ponies in the forest kept a low profile until they took it into their heads to hold up traffic on the approach to Beaulieu,
where a few swans and gulls remained on the river even though the tide was out.
Eventually we found ourselves at Hythe Marina Village, a waterside leisure development from 1986, where a weak wintry sun allowed for clear reflections on the still waters.
Skirting a protruding sandy spit,
a Red Jet boat sped across Southampton Water,
where I enjoyed an outside view of Hythe Pier Railway on which Jackie and I had ridden on 4th January 2015.
The Marina has to be approached from this water by means of a lock. Two vessels used this facility while we were there today.
On display on the quayside lies the R.N.L.B. lifeboat ‘Ruby and Arthur Reed’, the story of which is told by Wikipedia here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RNLB_Ruby_and_Arthur_Reed_(ON_990)
This evening we dined on Jackie’s excellent chicken curry and spicy basmati rice, with which I drank more of the merlot. I didn’t keep tabs on the others’ beverages.