still following the coast path...

I have been bit lacking in motivation for the last few months. Combination of major changes at work and some re-evaluation of personal relationships have left me feeling drained and with no time or energy for anything else. It feels though I have lost sight of the 'little things' that were my original motivation for starting this blog - my way of hanging on to reality and appreciating what I have. I do know that I should be very grateful - I have a home, a job and a family that I love. But I struggle hugely with a sense of overwhelming loneliness at times, a feeling that hasn't got easier - at least not yet. I am very glad my sons are so independent and getting on with their lives but it has served to highlight that I need to find a way of either changing or accepting my current status quo. As a confirmed introvert I am beginning to realise this is trickier than it might seem... Introversion does not equate to antisocial and I crave and need the company of people. But increasingly, I realise there are people that exhaust you by their very energy and effervescence - fab company in short bursts but lousy listeners and full of advice and life tips that suit their personalities and not mine. I find I want to curl up in a darkened room after time with some of these very well meaning friends. And then there are others in whose company I could be unendingly - those who know when to talk, when to listen and when to sit or walk in companionable silence. The people who 'just know' when I'm ok or not - sometimes even via a text. Who can make the world ok by the gentlest touch or a hug... The trouble is, the closest of these friends have jobs that are taking them hundreds of miles away. And I can't quite work out how I'm going to manage the void...

In the interests of self preservation and to try to kick myself into action I decided to pick up my coastal wanderings last weekend, on the first properly warm, bright day this year - or at least the first I'd had time to go for a walk. I took myself up to Blakeney and walked along the North Norfolk Coast Path to Wells.

Beginning at Blakeney point the path feels a long way from the sea as you walk past the boats out of the water for the winter...

...beside the mud flats, drained of water at low tide...

The sea is a way out there somewhere, across a wide stretch of sea marshes...

There was a definite 'proper' Spring feel to the air, as I walked along in a T-shirt for the first time this year, enjoying the warmth on my skin and the heady scent of gorse, splashing vivid patches of yellow beside the path... 

The sea runs inland here in long winding rivulets through the salt marsh, with the odd boat looking as though abandoned...

Couldn't help thinking you'd be brave to think this was a sturdy place to moor at high tide and step across to the shore...

Just in the distance there you can see the thin blue line of the sea on the horizon...

...and in the foreground, real signs of new life and new growth everywhere...

I've always thought there was something rather beautiful about the fat buds on bare tree branches - such sense of imminent transformation. I just know if I come back here in a few short weeks this tree will be clothed in fresh green and much of the view through its branches obscured...

Approaching Wells, a flotilla of boats , some just lifted off the sands again as the tide begins to come in, but with barely a ripple disturbing the watery images...

I had every intention of a quick bite to eat before the return walk but somehow my enthusiasm deserted me once I'd sat for a coffee and the Coasthopper bus saw me back to Blakeney in a quarter of the time.

I have plenty to be thankful for and need to remind myself of that regularly. And what are a few miles between friends...

S x