Druridge Bay Country Park in November

At the weekend we went for a walk in Druridge Bay Country Park. We normally go in the Hadston entrance to the park, but this time we used another way in to the south that I’d never used before.

My first thought as we walked along the path here was that there was a ridiculous amount of litter, but on closer inspection, what I thought was discarded paper turned out to be fallen leaves.

I think these are from White Poplar trees, which had turned bright yellow for autumn except for the downy underside of the leaves which stay white.

There were quite a lot of these trees in this part of the park and when I checked I found out that they thrive in coastal areas, so are perfectly suited to this location.

We walked as far as the beach. There were quite a few people about, including a couple of surfers. There were certainly big enough waves for them. Buddy had a bit of a run about. He loves the beach.

I stayed at the end of the path – scooters and sand are not a good combination!

We walked back through the park and around the lake. Some of the trees in more sheltered spots have retained their leaves but many have fallen. It was damp murky weather and the rain had left the leaves slippery and beginning to rot down – no crunching through dry rustling leaves today! This larch provided a splash of colour. Its needles have now turned bright mustard yellow and the twigs are dotted with small round cones.

Buddy has never learnt that the water by the stepping stones is deeper than he thinks so we called him back before he made his usual mistake.

Even when the sun isn’t shining it’s always good to get outdoors, though I was quite glad to get back indoors and warm my hands on a mug of hot chocolate.