"Let's Go Down to the Beach....

....and take a picnic!"

It was my mother's favourite way of spending a day and her two sons loved her for it. This picture was taken on a Mombasa beach, the picnic kikapu - a large woven basket - would be at her side full of the goodies which Ouma the cook had made ready for us, and all we had to do was enjoy ourselves.

I would like to feel that Gill and I continued the tradition. We certainly had many super picnics on the beaches of Jamaica, this one when my mother was staying, Lizzie was learning to swim, and Katy was a bump in her mother's tummy.

English beach picnics aren't quite the same though we had plenty, particularly in Hastings where my parents lived for many years and, as seen in this picture, at Walton-on-the-Naze where we went looking for the sharks' teeth hidden in the beach's fine gravel.

We had some wonderful picnics on Ardnamurchan's magnificent beaches, particularly at Sanna, though this picture was taken on the rocky beach to the east of Mingary Castle shortly before David left to start his new life in Canada.

An Ardnamurchan variation on the beach picnic came with the kayaks. We would pack the picnic in a dry bag and paddle along the coast from the house to one of the secluded beaches which could only be reached by sea.

Today there was another slight variation on the theme. On a sunny day, but with a cool wind blowing, we said, "Let's go down to the beach hut and take a picnic!"

So we sat, wrapped up, watching the wind surfers and remembering the picnics of years ago.