Felixstowe Beaches: Something for Everyone

Going to the coast is almost always worth it.  Sure, we have to drive an hour or two each way, but if we leave early enough, it's all part of the fun.  This week, however, we could not seem to get it together.  Getting out the door with food,  drinks, swimsuits and warm layers, sunhats and umbrellas... felt so... complicated.  And so, we would find ourselves standing around the kitchen at noon, wondering if it was too late.  Would it be worth the drive?  Would we have enough time?  What if it started raining (always a very real possibility)-- would it be worth all of the effort?  We looked for the quickest way to the water, as we weighed our options.  It turns out that Felixstowe is just 40 minutes away-- but no one had ever recommended it to us.  Why, we wondered?  We went for it anyway!
It was the warmest day we'd had yet this year (like, 82º!) and everyone else had also headed out to the beach.  This place was happening. (And cute!)

There were no waves, and the water was warm.  It was the first time I'd seen more than one Brit venture into the water at any given time!  And, this little one went in for the first time, as well.

We grilled fish on the beach again.  We all went in.

Once we'd had enough sun, we did what all people do on English beaches-- we headed for a pub.

After a cider in the shade, we walked down the promenade to the pier.  It was busy, busy, busy!

The main beach at Felixstowe is the kind you go to when you want to feel like you're part of a party!  There were lots of families, and especially plenty of college students and teens.  The pier had a huge arcade inside-- I guess it was a little like Balboa Island in California, but of course a whole lot more British.

But to tell you the truth, most of the time I don't want to feel like I'm part of a party at the beach.  I want to enjoy scenery, clean water, and the serenity of ocean sounds and sights.  And this was exactly what we found on Sunday, just a couple of miles from the first beach.  We had heard that there were more isolated, beautiful beaches north of the main Felixstowe area, and being late to get out the door again, we thought we'd try to find them.

We went to Felixstowe Ferry, a small fishing village where the River Deben meets the English Sea.  It was quiet and incredibly pretty.  In fact, a golf course took up much of the land up to the coast.

Where we parked there was a little marina, where boats were setting sail-- both leisure crafts, and actual fishing boats.  Lots of families were also trying their luck with fishing from the tiny pier.

 Walking along the paths above the water, you could just imagine what this place was like a hundred years ago.

That round building is called a Martello.  There were two of them on this bit of coastline, and they were built sometime in the 1800s as fortifications, to defend the land from seaborne invaders.

I'm pretty sure this is someone's home now.  I peeked over a wooden fence and saw a very pretty garden.
We walked a long ways along these paths.  It was windy, and rained quite a bit.

Although a bit cold, everything was gorgeous.  We waded into a little tide pool, where we saw all sort of interesting sea things, including a little crab trying to pinch my toes.
Then it really started pouring, and we made our way to the local pub.  We enjoyed our ciders outside, under the awnings.  A big ukelele troop showed up to take shelter.  I wish they'd played their tiny guitars for us, but just seeing all of them made me smile.

As we were leaving, we decided to take a different route, to see how far the two beaches we had visited were from each other.  And then we stopped for a picnic.  And that's when we found another stretch of beautiful beach!  This one had windbreaks, like in Southwold, and plenty of sand for Amelia.  By then, the sun had come out again, so I went into the water, and we all did a little sunbathing.  Perfect. (But not pictured, I had run out of battery power by then.)

People keep telling us about various wonderful beaches along the Suffolk and Norfolk coasts.  There are so many little villages and stretches of sand and water to explore.  But I have a feeling we'll be coming to Felixstowe Ferry over and over again-- it's only 45 minutes away, after all!