Oh we do like to be Beside the Seaside

The weekend began with an invitation to Saturday supper from a man I didn't know, to which I said yes, if I could bring along my motorhome.

So on Friday afternoon, we pulled out of Cambridge, headed north, and forty minutes later, were happily in the middle of nowhere at Cape Ann, on the northeast coast of Massachusetts. The Cape Ann campsite was run by one of those fantastic flinty women who brook no nonsense but take darn good care of you. We found a site backing onto the woods, threw a tablecloth on the table to mark our spot, and headed down to the local Wingaersheek beach. Which was a truly lovely discovery.  Talcum powder sand, masses of smooth rocks to climb on, and a view of boats gently bobbing in the bay. 

We headed straight back to the beach in the morning, and spent just about the whole day there. Low tide revealed a sand bar that stretched far out into the harbour, and there were lots of shells and hermit crabs to be checked out.

Then happy and grubby, we headed to the home of Jim and Nancy Bildner in the very smart little town of Manchester-by-the-Sea.  I had heard of Jim from our mutual great friend Mary Bisbee-Beek. I had met him ten days ago when we discovered we sat next to each other at a Kennedy School class. And he had immediately said, why don't you come to dinner?

We had a smashing evening, with Jim and Nancy, and Johanna and Eric, which went from earnest discussions of Haiti over excellent swordfish at the dinner table, to a somewhat raucous ping-pong doubles match some hours later. Jim hadn't blinked when I'd asked if we could bring Harvey. So here he is, parked in the drive, and there we were cosily tucked up until about ten on Sunday morning.

Jim and Nancy directed us up towards the village of  Ipswich where we first stopped at Russell Orchard for fresh donuts and apple cider (and I found the farm signs highly amusing). Then headed to the end of the local road to discover Crane Beach, a vast and beautiful expanse of sand backed by trails through sand-dunes. It so reminded me of our family walk along Holkham Beach in  Norfolk.

Back at home, it's eight pm, Tom is just about asleep, and ....once we have worked out how to get the RV back into our drive between the double parked cars littering up the block.... our weekend will soon be over. Two new beaches, four new friends.