Tunes and dunes

Mel's last full day here dawns and - horrors! - it's cloudy! And, from time to time, a little rainy too. We consider our options and decide that we'll go to Salinas beach - if it's too cloudy to be on the beach there are dunes to explore and beach bars to shelter from the rain.

It's after 3 by the time we get our backsides into gear, but as we drive away the sun breaks through. We arrive at Salinas beach to light rain, and take a stroll down the beach. There are several beach bars and we all agree that The Jockey Club has the best music. It also has a lovely sandy beach and nearby rock pools so it ticks all our boxes. We grab the towels from the car and settle there for the afternoon.

Alex and Xara have great fun catching crabs, shrimps and mudskippers in the rock pools and make friends with some other English children. Simon reads his book with a beer and Mel and I alternate between cloud-bathing and pool-dipping - in my case with a bit of dancing thrown in. It brightens up, but never becomes really sunny and as sunset approaches it begins to rain again so we pack up and leave.

As we drive away past the salt pans the sunset is quite spectacular. We arrive back at 9, ready for a late barbeque.