PootleNorthumberland: The coast is the place where I feel most calm.

Throughout my year in Northumberland, the one thing that has retrieved my believe in myself and any potential future I have here is my love of the glorious coastline here. Whenever I feel that all my worries are squashing the life out of me, if I can, Welly and I retreat to the coast. We walk, we sit, we watch the waves and I build silly little towers of stone. Its very restorative, and calming. It turns a day into a holiday. It empties my mind of my divorce and my lost french life. If the children come with me I am sure it helps them too. They have had the most enormous wrench imposed on them and I need them to survive.

I had deleted many of my early blogs here which contained many of my coastal pictures because they felt like a feedback loop. Whilst the coast provides relieve, it also reminded me that I had very very dark days. Days when I felt the only escape was to wade into the water and let the tide consume me. However my pictures are now reminding me of what I have to do when the bleakness sets in. Walk, breathe and notice small details of nature.

I always knew the power that the sea had on me. But visiting Druridge for the first time since our return to the UK reminded me that I would need a strong relationship with the coast to survive this enormous stressfull change. It was March 23rd 2012. A beautiful day in Hexham. I needed a happy day with the children to remind them we would be OK. So we headed northeast, and straight into a sea fret!

Welly had never seen the sea before and the kids havent grown up with it in the way that I had. The waves were fascinating to them and terrifying for Welly!