I felt properly miserable with the world today, so in order to cure it I went for a drive followed by a breezy walk. I drove along the lower road to Brooke, with a pretty clear run, blasting 1990s dance music through the stereo and gradually cheering up. I turned onto the Military Road on the west coast and sped along until I got to Chilton Chine, where I parked up. A narrow path led between hedges until it came to the cliff edge and led down good steps at first, which turned into rather worn, muddy steps leading down the lower part of the cliff, with a handrail of scaffold poles to cling on to. A stream gushed along the chine itself, which was littered with broken lobster pots and bits of wood. The steps ended near the bottom of the cliff and after a short scramble across a shingle bank I was on the broad, sandy beach at low tide. The low tide exposed a reef where the cliff had once been, with parts that may have been a petrified forest - there is one further up the coast anyway. The beach stretched away along the base of the cliffs and appeared deserted. Excellent! I strode off on the firm sand, investigating rock pools and looking for smooth stones. I kept away from the cliffs as they looked rather loose, and had clearly had some cliff falls recently. Not being entirely sure if the tide was going out or coming in, I didn't go too far as there wasn't another exit from the some time. On the way back I met a very friendly dog and her owner, and spied a heron out on the reef. Back up the precarious steps to the car, and I felt very grateful to live in such a beautiful place and rather less miserable than I had been at the outset. Hurrah!
