We're both keen weather watchers, and Phil keeps a beady eye glued to the surf forecast at all times. So when we woke up on Sunday and saw that it was indeed as nice a day as forecast, we wasted no time in getting up and out there to make the most of it (well, after a bit of a lay in). When we did get up we went straight into production mode, and soon had a flask of Barleycup (with hemp milk) made, and some tasty cinnamon and raisin bagels filled with almond butter, maple syrup, and sliced bananas.
A small rucksack was found, and hastily packed with the above items, plus a selection of trail snacks sent over from Scooby's sister in Alaska. We then put on our jackets and headed out the door, only to find that we didn't really need them. Some people were walking around in T-shirts, and shorts. In December. Some of them were even locals.
After walking a few hundred yards and undoing our jackets, we were still not quite willing to accept the fact that it was unseasonably warm, and so carried on walking, getting hotter and hotter, headed for the coast path. To be fair, once we had the full force of the wind in our faces it wasn't exactly sweltering, but it was still a very pleasant walk headed south to a high point from which we planned to eat our Sunday brunch. The walk there certainly created a good appetite.
We started our brunch with the bagels, which went down just a little too easily. The combination of almond butter, banana, maple syrup and fresh sea air really hit the spot. After pausing for a minute to take in the view and slurp our Barleycup, we had the difficult decision of what to sample out of our Alaskan vegan trail snack package. The chocolate chip cookie, with its sheer chunky delight, spoke to us first. It had a creamy vanilla hit and like a lot of the cookies we've had from America, it was a lot softer than our small, 'snap in two' biscuity British versions. Not the kind of cookie you would want to wave at your cup of tea and expect it to not disintegrate into a mush at the bottom of the cup but regardless this was a real bold, well built, generous character of a cookie; much like the Alaskans themselves. We had a little more space for another treat and the Super Dark Coconut Ash and Banana chocolate came on to the radar. Now sticking a load of ash into chocolate wouldn't be the first thing you would think to do. Don't knock it until you've tried it! This stuff rocks, with an intense coconut flavour, and a hint of banana, all wrapped up in a smooth well balanced dark chocolate intensity. Just the way we like it. The rest of the snacks survived to live another day; perhaps for next weekend's rambling Sunday brunch?
One of the reasons we chose this breakfast spot is that just a short walk further south, we've previously seen choughs. After filling our bellies we went looking for them. Maybe they were hiding, or maybe we didn't watch for long enough, but today we didn't see any. I'm sure if we'd gone there with no hopes of seeing them, then they would have appeared. All the while we were out, Phil was keeping an eye on the surf conditions. By the time we'd returned home, the tide had pushed in enough to tempt him in for a couple of hours before it got too dark. The waves were a couple of feet overhead, and had that winter 'oomph'; like a cold wet slap in the face, that gets your attention and sharpens the mind. As the smell of wood smoke filled the air, and the sun sank below the horizon, a now very tired Phil stumbled home feeling drained but satisfied, and in need of some high energy vegan fuel to refill his tank. With all the wind and rain we've endured of late, we'd very much like a few more sunny days like Sunday, with light winds and good clean waves.
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