We failed to spot the 5am finish time as a clue. 10 hours of trying to keep a bar with customers queuing 3 deep and chucking notes sprinkled with suspicious substances under control was an experience. However it does mean I'm slightly less likely to be phased when I hear the words 'it's a bit busy in here'.
Cowes Week on the Isle of Wight is a hectic week of sailing, and parties, on the Solent. The week got off to a good start with tasting sessions so we could sound vaguely convincing when recommending a dry and crisp wine. Unfortunately few people were persuaded that I was the older sibling, maturity not competing effectively against undeniable height advantages and a strategic beard. I'm not in a position to change these facts so I'll keep calm and carry on.
Thankfully the team of people were great and entertainingly included a few sibling combinations so we could get each other through the long shifts without getting too delirious switching between coasting along with the unoriginal 'carlsburg and a san miguel please' or sharing the panic of '10 dark and stormys and 5 JD and cokes- fat coke'.
A day to recover then an epic train journey up to Robin Hoods Bay in North Yorkshire. We arrived to apocolyptic conditions and had a quick walk on the clifftop and treated ourselves to fish and chips in front of the fire to defrost.
It does seem unfair that Brits detirmined to enjoy their summer holidays on home soil end up using their raincoats as much as their swimsuits. However despite being laughed at for optimistically packing bikinis, we were justified the next day.
An explorer's breakfast in the sun, seranaded by Yorkshire Coast Radio, and we were off to the beach.
We soon left the crowds behind as we marched off into the distance on our mission for the day : seal spotting. With clear instructions to 'head to the corner' (headland) and 'don't step on them' we couldn't go wrong. Apart from slipping all over the shop in our less serious explorer flip flops and panicking when the cliff seemed to be falling down.
We even made it into the sea, up to the knees (by accident when a wave came in). We didn't shake our southern softie-ness overnight and I wouldn't hold your breath that it'll be anytime soon.
Suddenly we were distracted from our bambi on ice display by some heavy breathing on our right. Success!
Some death-defying rock climbing, any type of rock climbing is fairly dicey in flip-flops, and we rounded the headland. Spent a few minutes calming down and being miffed about the lack of seals before our David Attenborough spotting skills kicked in and we saw a whole team of seals chilling on the rocks and playing in the water. We're both agreed that seals have the ideal lifestyle down. They also provide the best entertainment when out of the water. A beached whale impression has nothing on the commotion they cause flopping around trying to make progress on the rocks. Very cute. The picture below shows this little guy looking embarrassed about his performance trying to escape the selfies.
And to wrap up my summer in the UK, back to the south coast for a day out on Salamander. We were treated to amazing sunshine and no wind, rubbish sailing conditions but perfect for a bit of sight-seeing down the Solent, past Hurst Castle and over to the Needles.
The mini magnums made their debut appearance and we could have been in the Med, just minus the jackets!
