Unexpected best day of my life
On Friday I said to my sister; “I think this might be the best day of my life.” She chuckled but I wasn’t even being sarcastic. And here’s why.
Hello you,
I’m sitting here writing from our little holiday pad near Kirkby Lonsdale UK. I’m here with my little sister Leanne to finally round off her 30th birthday celebrations.
The door is open on the Juliet balcony and all the sounds and smells of the morning are breezing in. Rain pattering on the waterlogged field, sheep and lambs making themselves known and a cacophony of birds.
We’ve come on holiday an hour down the road, but it feels like a complete escape.
The trip, my gift to her, got off to a slightly rocky and anxious start (that’s another story). So I’ve been pep talking myself that “it doesn’t have to be perfect”, “just accept whatever happens and enjoy what you can,” “You’re together that’s all that counts.” Etc etc.
Each day has been a blank page with no plan.
On Friday we basically zoomed out on Google maps and pointed at a place called Grange-Over-Sands. We got in the car with our cheese butties and off we went.
Well, friend! If I wrote down every joyous experience we shared it would be a dissertation :’). But here are a few.
A coffee and the most delicious shortbread biscuits ever from The Hazelmere Deli.
A mooch around the idyllic Ornamental Gardens duck pond which is home to spectacular species I’ve never seen in my life including rainbow-esque Mandarin ducks and bar-headed geese.
A slow, slow meander along the promenade, stopping every few steps to survey the marshes through our binoculars. (Leanne’s were a present from my partner for her birthday after I would not stop going on about how much joy mine bring me. You should get some, honestly.)
As we ambled along, the mist curtain lifted and the sunshine pushed through revealing the hill scape and the other side of Morcambe Bay. We barely saw another soul and essentially just kept saying ‘wow’ and smiling at each other.
We decided we needed a brew and saw The Coffee Pot Cafe with a sign outside advertising a great view of the bay. It did not lie! We sat and sipped, still grinning, watching the morning sun glisten off the water’s surface from this heavenly little wooden balcony.
Leanne pointed out a place of interest on Google Maps called Humphrey Head. “It looks like a nice view,” she said. And then it was decided, this would be our picnic spot.
After a windy, picturesque drive along single-track roads we found the one little muddy parking spot by so called Humphrey’s Head. “Who is Humphrey? And what’s so good about his head?” I joked, because I’m hilarious.
The view was STUNNING. Again, not a soul around except for us. In the distance, blue sky and thrashing waves. Nearer to us, all the textures of grassy, boggy marshland. The scent of sea salt and a bluster in our ears.
“Leanne, I think this is the best picnic spot I’ve ever been to in my life,” I said. (Unironically sounding like Parker from Friends IYKYK)
Why do picnic sandwiches taste so much better when they’ve been squished in your rucksack and you eat them whilst sat on damp grass and looking out at nature?
Every couple of bites we’d put down our butties to have another look through our binoculars. When Leanne spotted a mini murmuration in the distance we watched it together oohing and aahing like we were at the Disneyland fireworks.
“This is just perfect. What more could we possibly want?” I sighed.
“Nothing,” Leanne replied.
Well, the universe had one more surprise up his infinite sleeve. On the way into the nature reserve we’d spotted a battered old sign that mentioned something about peregrine falcons between March and June.
To be clear we may have the gear (team binocs) but we have no idea when it comes to twitching. We just like having a look. My bird knowledge could be summarised on a mini post-it note and Leanne’s perhaps on a large post-it.
Leanne’s exact words were; “I’m just gonna have a spy at the cliff before we go.”
Before I’d had a chance to take a breath. “There! I’ve found one. Oh my God, Janelle! Quick!”
She had to be joking but I could tell by her voice that she wasn’t.
“See that splodge of green and that branch there?” I followed her finger. “There! There!”
I didn’t have a scooby where she was looking and I very illogically scanned my binoculars all over the cliff face. Eventually and finally BOOM.
“No way! No waaaaaay!”
We were both looking (and squealing) at a frickin’ peregrine falcon just sat on his little rocky shelf surveying the view.
It was like spotting a celebrity, but kinda better. He was there for ages, we really got a good look at him. His bright yellow beak, his white speckled chest and his jerky little head movements.
And then…he swooped and flapped away around the cliff.
We turned to each other mouths open, eyes wide, hugged each other and jumped up and down in the muddy sand.
“Oh my Goooooood! I can’t believe it!”
We didn’t stop smiling for the rest of the day and I swear we were joy magnets. It just kept going. We had no plan, no expectations. And it simply unfolded into one of the best days of my life.
*contended happy sigh*
P.S Of course now I want to hear about your best day! Please let me know in the comments. Let’s keep this joy train running.
Ok ok I’m convinced. I’m going to join team binocs.
LOVE Grange, my grandparents lived there so I have a host of memories of rollerblading along the prom. I also support Grange lido, which after a childhood of peering into Id love to see open. If you’re ever there again the sausage rolls from Higgies butchers are unbelievable (if you’re into that sort of thing).
Thanks for letting us join in on your best day! It reminds me of a moment almost a decade ago, when I was visiting my beloved aunt who lives near the Dunstable Downs and we took kites up there to let them dance in the breezes. Later, I left the kids with her, eating their scones and drinking milkshakes, and walked a little way along the Icknield Way.
As I stood looking out, I imagined myriad walkers who had stood and looked from this exact spot in the middle of a longer journey, for hundreds of years. It was a huge moment for me. I will never forget that feeling.