Western Super Mare

We've both had a week off and we had planned a trip to Weston Super Mare

We chose the same B+B that we've stayed at on a previous visit

After a 4 hour train journey, we arrived, and had time before check in, so walked to town and looked for a café for lunch.

After dropping off our bags, we walked down to the large expanse of beach

The tide was right out, and the beach quite deserted

It's nickname is Weston on the Mud, as the tide goes out so far

We went treasure hunting, but the beach is predominantly sand. We did however find this little patch of mini shells, so we did find a handful of pieces

We went to go on the pier, but found it closed early. We stopped for an ice cream and headed back to the beach

The tide was coming in, and it comes in quickly. The wind was strong, so this was perfect conditions for the kite and wind surfers, who were out in force.

As England were playing in the Euros we looked around for a chippy, and took it back to our room to watch the match

The following morning we went down to breakfast, and then went in to town to buy some baked goodies to take to my Grandad, the reason we were visiting Weston.

We took the bus to Worle and spent the whole day chatting with Grandad, catching up with news and hearing about his jobs in the past and his farming days.

In the evening we got the bus back to town and headed to a Weatherspoons, always a safe bet for a good value meal

We headed back on foot, with the sun going down

and the lights twinkling on the pools of water

We had chosen to stay an extra day, as we wanted to take a day trip to Cheddar Gorge. After breakfast we took the bus to Tween town, where we took a wander around the little stores.

As the tills were down at the ticket office, we stopped for coffee, before getting on the tour bus which took us up through the gorge

We went into the main cave, Gough's cave, where we were handed audio phones to learn of the history and the features

We walked through large chambers

seeing many different formations

The second cave, Cox's cave, was a completely different experience, as they have set up DreamHunters, the adventures of early man

Each little cave you went into had a light show

the features lit up with colourful lights

and story images projected against the cave walls

and an audio soundtrack telling the story of man at the same time. It was very clever

Next we took on Jacobs Ladder, where 274 steps took you upwards, and yes we did need to take breathers! Just when you made it to the top, you then had more steps up to the top of the lookout tower

to have the vast view across the Mendips

After the trek back down, we needed lunch, and found a lovely little café and sat in the garden for paninis.

The weather had held off for most of the day, but we had to finish our drinks inside as a heavy shower came down. We went around the little museum, the various shops and of course the Cheddar cheese shop. We finished off with an ice cream, and unfortunately after all the difficult climbing, I took a tumble down a few simple steps!!

We took the bus back to our B+B and rested before heading our for food

We found a nice little bar by the seafront called Nicks. I had a delicious chilli, whilst hubby took on the mighty Challenge burger!

Our last day, and after breakfast and packing we headed to the retail park so I could get some new trainers, as mine were literally on their last legs! Then we continued on the bus back to my Grandads to have a last cuppa together. Then it was back down to the beach to see the annual Sand sculpture exhibition, somewhere we have visited before, and is always impressive.

Each year they choose a different theme

This year was "When I grow up", with a variety of different career options depicted in 5,000 tons of sand! Again we ended up not venturing on the pier as we found they now charge entry, ridiculous when all the food, amusements and rides are expensive enough! We found a little arcade, where I left hubby to keep himself amused whilst I went off to the craft shop and bought a few more balls for my huge mandala. I went back and played on the 2p machines before taking our long journey back home again

Despite taking a bag of mini balls away with me, with the intention of starting another basket, by the time you've eaten out, its quite late and you're exhausted with trekking around for the day, I didn't end up doing any!

We had 3 days at home to enjoy together, so other than some housework, we've spent most of our time relaxing, especially as I needed to rest and elevate my foot. So I have continued working the long, hard complicated rounds of the mandala, and i've finally completed week 10

**If you wish to read more about the places we visited I have added links to the attractions