Insomnia and coastal walks...

Sleep and I have never been great friends and just now we have really fallen out. 3-4 hours sleep counts as a good night and on a bad night...well lets just say sometimes the early dawn sees me still clockwatching. 

A couple of weeks ago, in the interests of continuing my trip around the coast and not wasting the weekend feeling grumpy after not sleeping, I got up and headed to the North Norfolk coast as the sun was rising. The skies were stunning as I was driving and still tinged with pink when I arrived at the stretch of shingly beach between Weybourne and Salthouse.

It was pretty cold, with the threat of a downpour very present, heavy black clouds over the sea...

...but there is something very striking about this coastline, even when it looks a little bleak, with its expanse of skies and sense of solitude, just a lone fisherman at the shoreside...

By the time I got to the nature reserve at Salthouse my hands were frozen and I was struggling to stand still, never mind take photos across the marshes...

I'm not sure if it was my mood or the atmosphere, but I found this beach a little depressing. 

It feels like a vast stretch of shingle which, that day, was being pounded relentlessly by the grey waves. The beach itself was strewn with starfish and even a few small fish and although they were splashes of colour and intricate patterns, felt a bit like the debris from some natural ill-event... 

I don't know how well you can see them here, but I don't think I have ever seen so many starfish - every few steps was another and another...

Even this boat looked abandoned on the shore...

By this time it was pouring and I gave up gracefully to retreat to the heat of the car.

I will try to complete the beach list but its definitely not going to happen before the end of the year. Perhaps by Spring, when life looks set to throw a few more challenges my way and I will really need to  motivate myself to find a new way forward. I am currently torn between willing the winter on and desperately trying to hold on to the 'now' so that I don't have to face my feelings which I just know are going to be as stormy as these clouds come April time. Life is so complicated.

And in the meantime, there is Christmas to manage. I have less than 2 weeks to get festive - superhuman effort required, but will get there...

S x