You almost never know when is the last time you will do something. Visiting Whitsand Bay in South East Cornwall is a case in point for us. A spectacular 8 km sandy beach about half an hour from home. To visit takes a fairly determined beach goer as access is down a steep path but the rewards certainly outweigh the 10 minute descent. I suspect life got in the way of our family visits. There was a period of life when I had two children under 7 and two terminally ill parents who lived 300 miles away.

Quite why I allowed life to stop us visiting I don’t know. Life pressures and commitments have a way of limiting freedom and choice, almost imperceptibly but, brutally. So 30 years have passed and the small children who last struggled down the hill with me have children of their own.

This is not the sort of place to ignore for 30 years and a beach this beautiful that allows dogs year round should have been back on my radar as soon as we got Hugo 10 years ago.

Better late than never, life is too short to let a place like this slip through my fingers again.