With it being the family October half-term holiday, this year I decided to drag the family down to the wonderful county of Dorset. (I say this year, but in reality, it is every year thanks to my old mucker lending us his flat in Weymouth).

With a favourable forecast on the horizon, & it being a Monday, I loaded the troops into the car for a magical mystery tour, bound for distant lands at the other end of Chesil Beach (a distance of roughly 18 miles from Weymouth).

Making our way on a westerly bearing, we stopped for a few provisions at a farm Shop near Bridport, before looking for a suitable place to stop & cook, & after a few stops & starts, (‘I don’t like it here, it is too windy’ or ‘There are too many people’) we finally found ourselves in Cogden Beach carpark.

With the troops loaded up like Sherpas, I frog-marched them down to the shingle in order to find a sheltered alcove, where I contemplated which cooking device to use. In the end I fired up my little MSR Pocket Rocket gas stove & set about rustling up some bangers & fried shallots. As the female contingent of the WDC had no interest in messing around on the beach, they wandered back to the car while Harry & myself did what boys tend to do on a pebbly beach – throw stones at each other, throw stones at a bit of wood & throw stones into the sea.

Back at the car, with daughter engrossed in some junk on her phone & wife engrossed in whatever book she was reading, Harry & I made a brew & just sat, admiring the views along the length of Chesil Beach.