Whenever we have an impromptu day out, we pack a wetsuit and bodyboard in the van "just in case". So glad we did when we took the coast road and ended up at Bigbury-on-Sea in South Devon!
Despite living relatively close, we rarely visit the South Hams by road - this has got to change! The gentle rolling hills give way to glorious beaches, many of which are dog friendly (hoorah!). And the beach is Gracie's favourite place to be, so she was more than happy to chase her ball whilst the girls were chasing waves.
The river Avon meets the sea at Bigbury, and with the tide out, it was safe enough to play in the current. It was really good to show the girls what a rip current is, and how to get out of one if they ever find themselves caught up in a rip. They zoomed along with great speed on their boards with the current, but it was incredibly hard to swim against it. We showed them that the best way is to swim horizontally across the current so they could make it out of the fast flow to the other side. Learning through play is brilliant, and hopefully builds on thei girls' water confidence. The RNLI beach rescue team were certainly impressed when the girls told them how to get out of a rip when we saw them later in the day as they were doing beach education.
After fun on the sand, we had some hungry tummies to contend with. We'd heard about a "Gastrobus" in nearby Bantham, so we packed up and headed the couple of miles to the next bay. Wow, were we glad we did! The track to the beach carpark opens out to a large grassy area at the bottom of a valley - steep grassy fields filled with cows on one side, marram grass dunes leading to the beach the other. Nestled in between were 3 pastel painted vintage vans, surrounding a selection of tables with checked tablecloths and benches. We plumped for the pizza van - handmade woodfired pizza to die for! Gracie was disappointed that the girls ate pretty much all on their plates, but we saved her a little bit so she wasn't left out.
Suitably stuffed, we took a stroll through the dunes to walk off our tea. The river mouth we were playing in earlier was now swallowed up by the incoming tide. It's quite shocking to think that to the untrained eye a huge rip current lurks just underneath!
And so with the sun setting we headed back to the van for the hour trip back home. Happy hound, happy children, happy days!