Nothing like a visit to the beach to wash away the January blues

After the 'big freeze' struck and panic ensued, we were then warned that the 'big thaw' would cause flooding of epic proportions - you'd swear we live in biblical times on some days!  Well, the snow did inevitably melt, and *shock, horror*.... there was a little puddle on the pathway on Saturday morning.  But... the sun was shining!  We haven't seen the sun for a very long time, so I got predictably excited and told Dave that we should move it up out of the house and take Lucy to the beach.

Now, folks... 'beach' to me, means lovely sand and dunes.  'Beach' over here means anything that resembles land that meets the sea, no matter how rocky it is.  Hmmm.  The only sandy beach I knew about was near Chichester, where I used to live, so we packed Luce into the car and off we went, in search of some waves (read: to take a walk on the beach, fully clothed in beanies, coats and boots).

We decided on West Wittering and it was a really lovely sight, despite the cold.  Small, brightly coloured beach huts - closed for the winter - lined the beach and looked so lovely with the sunshine bouncing off them.

Lucy wasn't sure at first, but very soon got the hang of it.  In a word, she went ballistic!  She didn't know which way to turn, so seemingly turned in all directions at the same time!  This caused her a bit of trouble with her lead, much to our amusement.....

She was quite scared of the water, she kind of just stared at it and when the waves trickled in (they don't 'crash' in England, they're polite waves!), she ran away very swiftly!

The sky was gorgeous and as always, instagram helped me make it look even more spectacular...

We had Lucy on the lead because we're too paranoid to let her off, in case she runs off and we can't catch her.  A little Jack Russell came bounding up to her, with its owners in tow, and they were astounded that we had her on the lead.  They said that they'd let their little one off as soon as they got it and it was the same age as Lucy - 5 months.  We chatted a bit and he said that the best advice he could give us was to let her off the lead and see what happened - the sooner she was off the lead, the sooner she'd learn to come back to us.  Seemed simple enough.  So we tried it and were very pleasantly surprised!  I guess that the world seems like a daunting place for a 5 month old puppy and without the security of the lead, she actually stuck close by us which was refreshing - and a big relief!

She made lots of friends on the beach too...

I tried countless times and failed to get a photo of her actually looking at the camera, even resorting to bribery with a treat being held over my shoulder, which finally worked!

But I eventually got this one (no bribes), which is so gorgeous... one of my favourite shots of Luce to date.

On the way home, we stopped in to visit some friends who live in the area and had a lovely catch-up.  All in all, a lovely day - and the bonus?  A tired out pup who slept the entire evening, leaving Dave and I free to enjoy a nice evening in with some homemade steak and chips.  Yum!