WE GO PLACES

South Landing at Flamborough nominated for BBC Countryfile Magazine's Beach of the Year

Wonderful news that this beautiful hidden treasure of the Yorkshire Coast has been nominated as Best Beach of the Year!

If you want funfairs, sticks of rock, crowds, donkey rides and noise, this gorgeous spot isn't ever going to be your cup of sea.

For those of us who love the sound of the ocean, the cry of seabirds, chalk cliffs meeting the waves and sweet seaside solitude, for me at least, it just cannot be beaten.

Still time to vote in all categories here till 31st January 2016: BBC Countryfile Magazine Awards 2015/16

Here's some more views  of Flamborough's South Landing I took in June 2012:

Tour de Yorkshire passes through Flamborough - setting for my next novel "Cloudhover Solstice"

Flamborough, North Landing

Today's the day the ‪#‎TourDeYorkshire‬ starts in Sewerby, passing through Flamborough, Bempton and Buckton before crossing into North Yorkshire. Crowds are lining the beautiful route which will finish in Scarborough at around 4pm today (May 1st). 

Readers who are getting excited about the sequel to "Goatsucker Harvest" - the cliffs and countryside around Flamborough are the gorgeous setting for my next book "Cloudhover Solstice"! So keep your eyes peeled for more mysterious and mesmerising glimpses of Yorkshire!

ASHEN

ASHEN

Noctilucent crown

Digit dither in bluest breeze

Summer spender

Of unresting still

Nithered in dusk's gown

Holding owl in finger squeeze

Winter welcomer

Quiesce to chill

Your keys hold all pendula

Hushing the clockwork,

Finger on lip of the stream;

Keys fan, fair flutterer,

Ogham misspelling

The drift and the dream

You need to get out more

ME/CFS has a misguided conviction it can suck you dry from the inside, like other so-called "invisible" illnesses. It attempts to change your ability to think, move and function. 

People see a smiling face, they convince themselves you're well. I reckon that's better than always having a face like a fiddle!

So today, a little less crashed than often, I leapt at the chance to get out and about. Two dear friends rang and asked if I wanted to go to the National Trust park that's a half hour's drive away in the next county.

 "D' you fancy a trip to Columba?" 

My brain-fogged mental muscles had gradually reshaped this into the more realistic invitation to "Clumber (Park)".

 I got my walking stick, the dog's lead, my camera and waited by the door!

We arrived for packed lunch, sitting in the car overlooking the trees and fields which make the Yorkshire/Nottinghamshire borderlands so beautiful yet sometimes "overlooked" in quite a different way!  The sun was glowing bravely over a chilly smorgasbord of winter solstice sights and smells. Frost and fire lit webs and tendrils, the lake glistened with extra duck topping, dogs peed on scented tree trunks not seen for a while (the sign near the car park assured us "more "P" on the grass verges" or words to that effect - I  told the dog it wasn't an open invitation), and the corvines grizzled throatily from the Lime Tree Avenue.

For me, it was such a treat to get out into the healing countryside I used to walk and cycle in every spare moment I got. Today's outing was a refreshing  joy to share in Advent . OK, so now back home I feel like someone has taken a blow torch to my eyes and ears, put razor blades rather ungallantly inside my biceps and throat, my calf muscles are twitching and snickering like the nostrils of a well-bred horse, but my soul is soaring!

God bless, everyone;

hope you can treasure the quiet and quirky moments in your build-up to Christmas, and not get too trapped or drained by the frantic.